Power Rangers: Rescue Ops
by VFrame
Summary: Sequel and afterstory to Power Rangers: Energy Combat. After discovering an ancient treasure in the Middle East, the city of Palisade, North Carolina becomes the next target for random attacks. If you haven't read Energy Combat already, then you should. It would make following this story much easier. Anyways, enjoy and drop a review: good or bad!
1. The Menger Sponge

_Yay! I can finally start this story!_

_IMPORTANT INFORMATION: This story takes place roughly ten years after Energy Combat._

_If you haven't read Energy Combat, then you should. It will explain a lot._

_For those of you that came for The Elder Scrolls, Chapter 25 is where it starts._

**_RATED T: _**_Some adult themes._

**==Secret Ops Base, U.S.S. Columbia, Atlantic Ocean==**

The U.S.S. Columbia was a large carrier ship which served as one of the bases for the United States Secret Operatives. This elite troop of agents were each selected secretly and were trained vigorously to be a part of the U.S. military's most secretive organization. This was the organization responsible for unknown raids on terrorist hideouts and rare discoveries.

General Brent Fuller entered the U.S. Secret Ops boardroom where he was greeted by a commotion of confused operatives. He was an aged man in his late fifties with balding hair and a terrifying voice.

"Settle down in here!" General Fuller shouted, quieting the entire room. He squinted his eyes as he carefully scanned everyone in the room. It was standard safety and security procedures to make sure that there were no intruders in the room and that everyone was present.

"General, we haven't had any luck." on of the operatives said, holding up a golden menger sponge.

The agents found the menger sponge when raiding an ancient Arabian palace where Al Qaeda terrorists were rumoured to be hiding. Unsure of what to do with it, they took the treasure from the palace. After a while of playing around with it, one agent inferred that it needed to be unlocked somehow. It seemed too priceless to be a useless piece of gold.

The general groaned and shook his head. "You guys are trained to be able to crack these codes. Fortunately, I have worked with Operative Westbrook over here to create a key."

Raylan Westbrook handed the general a small silver cube. "Here is the key, General. It needs to be inserted into the largest pore in the center of the menger sponge."

Raylan was selected as soon as he graduated from Stanford. The only person on the planet he was allowed to spill his identity to was his wife, Emma.

The general smiled and nodded, taking the cube from Raylan. He walked over to the operative holding up the menger sponge and inserted the key inside. Everybody stood up and watched as the key and sponge floated into the air, letting out a burst of golden light.

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

It was the first day of school at Palisade High School and the day couldn't have been better. Despite being the first day, the sun was still up and the students would still have time to go to the beach as there would be no homework on the first day. When the morning bell rang, the students dispersed from their groups of friends to get to their classes in time.

Kenzie Taylor finished placing her things in her locker. She was a pretty girl with long brunette hair and a recognizable face. When she turned around, she was shocked to see a tall blonde boy standing by her. He was cute and she had to cover one side of her face with her hair to prevent him from seeing her blush.

"Hi there...can help you?" she asked, trying not to giggle.

"Shouldn't it be the other way around? It looks like you're struggling." he laughed

Kenzie giggled and handed the boy her books. "My name is Kenzie...McKenzie...McKenzie Taylor...but you call call me Kenzie." she said. Her words were broken up by her blush.

"My name is AJ. Well, my full name is Austin James Barron, but you can just call me AJ." he smiled, taking her books. "So, what grade are you in?"

"Oh, I'm a junior." she smiled. "How about you?"

"I am too! It looks like we _do _have some things in common." he said, looking down. "Anyways, how does Saturday sound?"

"L-l-like this Saturday? On...on a date?" she laughed. "Really?"

"Yup, really. I would love to take you out."

She giggled. "Yeah, that's fine with me!"

"Awesome! So, what class do you have first?"

"Oh, I have English with Mr. Park."

"Really? Same! How about I walk you to class?" he said, softly gripping her hand.

"Hee-hee, okay!" she giggled, letting her hand slip into his.

* * *

Jake Fernandez and his best friend, Niles Biggs, were sitting way at the back of their Chemistry class. Sitting way in the back was one of the perks to being like by everyone. They were entitled those golden seats where the teacher wouldn't be able to scold them or even see what they were doing.

Jake was hispanic with deep, curly, brown hair and of average height. Niles, on the other hand, was tall and blonde.

"Yo, I hear our teacher is new to this school." Niles said.

"Yeah, bro, I know." Jake agreed.

When the bell rang, their teacher walked in.

Jake's eyes popped out. "Holy shit! Our teacher is one sexy motherfucker!" he exclaimed.

Niles nodded. "I'm with you on that one."

Finally, she spoke. "My name is Mrs. Ryleigh King, and as you can tell, I will be your teacher for the year." she smiled. "I'm really looking forward to being able to teach you guys, this year!" As she said this, she accidentally dropped her clipboard. "Oh, darn it." she said, bending over to pick it up.

When Jake realized what he was seeing, he pulled out his phone and took a picture. "Wow, I'm never going to delete this." he laughed.

Niles gave him a playful punch on the arm. "Come on, man, she's _married_! She said that she's a 'Mrs.'! She's taken!"

Jake made a sizzling sound with his mouth. "Ehh...that doesn't matter to me. I can always imagine."

Niles shook his head. "You're one funny kid, Jake."

* * *

Chase Vereen flipped his blonde skater hair as he copied down introductory notes for Calculus from the board. When the PowerPoint slides were done, Chase placed his notebook back in his backpack as he waited for further instruction. He wasn't having the greatest time on his first day of school due to the attention he receied from random girls.

Chase was the ideal dream boy. Girls had been drooling over him since puberty struck both genders. They thought his built-up body and his manly voice were to drool over. He used to like it at first, but then it started to get on his nerves. He couldn't walk two steps without having to reject another girl.

The Calculus teacher, Miss Hering, started to hand out question-and-answer sheets. "Since this is the first day of school, I want you guys to get to know each other. Therefore, I am asking that you look to the person next to you and have a casual interview with them. I am giving you the next few days to get to know each other and then you will be required to present what you have learned to the front of the class."

Chase turned to his right and saw Shannon Ackerman blush. He groaned as he knew what was about to happen next. _"She's going to ask me if I'm free sometime,"_ he thought.

She turned over to him. "So, are you going to be free this weekend?" she asked. He knew it was coming. While she saw a gorgeous blonde girl and was easily one of the hottest in the school, he wasn't interested. He lost most interst in girls that chased after him.

He sighed and tried to let her down easy. He didn't want to make her cry since the assignment would be awkward, afterwards. "Listen, Shannon, you're a really nice girl and all, but I really think we should be focusing on the work."

She nodded her head affirmatively. "That's right. I'll ask you later."

He nodded in reply. "Yeah, that would be much appreciated."

She looked over at the questions on the interview sheet and chuckled. "It looks like we're going to get to know each other quite a lot." she giggled.

In confusion, Chase raised his eyebrows. When he looked at the sheet, he realized what she was talking about. "I have to share a secret with you!?" he exclaimed, sticking his tongue out.

She smiled and nodded. "Well, it's not so bad because I also have to share one with you...and I'm sure you don't have any bad secrets."

The bell rang for next period to start.

Chase got up to pack up his things. "Listen, Shannon, you're a great girl and all-"

She cut him off by putting her finger to his mouth. She put her mouth to his head. "Shh...just meet me at my house tomorrow night and we'll finish this. Don't worry, my parents aren't home." she giggled, walking off and waving goodbye.

Chase swallowed deeply and rushed out of the classroom.

* * *

Alli Matthews smiled as she talked to her seatmates in her Economics class. She was a blonde girl with piercing blue eyes who moved from Britain only a few years ago, still retaining her accent. Alli attracted guys the way Chase attracted girls, but Alli was more friendly with them.

One of her seatmates, Jason Zimmerman, handed her a note. When she unfolded it, it read: "_You're cute :)"_. She giggled to herself and looked up at him.

"So, whaddaya say?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, but I have to say 'no'." she responded, making a sad face.

"Wha-why?" he asked, making the same sad face.

"Well, right now I'm just trying to focus on school. Getting good grades is my priority. Maybe during the holidays or on break time you could ask me on a date, but right now I'm trying to get into a good university."

He nodded and went back to his own work. Despite being rejected by Alli, guys tended to be happy with her response. She wasn't a jerk about it like Chase was, and people appreciated that.

She sat back and relaxed in her chair. While she was living her ilfe well, she still wasn't content with it. She always wanted something to happen out of the ordinary that cried for her name. She wanted something to pull her out of her daily lifestyle and add some spice to her life. She was tired of being plain old Allison Matthews, the new girl from England.

* * *

Nick Carlisle tried his best to pay attention to what was going on in Choir. He didn't like the 'introductory points' that teachers always gave on the first day of school and just wanted to get into the singing. He was a tall, skinny boy with curly black hair and pale skin. He wasn't the most outgoing guy but he had friends and he was proud of where he was. Singing was his passion and he was glad he could find friends who shared the same interests.

Finally, the Choir instructor, Mrs. Bertrand, allowed the students to sing. "All right, I took the time over the summer to make the introduction to this class an actual song. I want each and every one of you to take part in it. Each sheet has one line highlighted and that will be the line each person sings." she said, handing out lyric sheets to each student.

Nick pumped his fist. He couldn' wait to get his mouth moving. He got his sheet and looked at his line. "_We will make or break dreams._" it said. While it was only six lines, it was jam-packed with meaning and emotion.

When it was Nick's turn to sing his line, he couldn't have hit his notes in a more perfect way. His voice carried on from word-to-word until it came time for the next person to sing.

When the song was over, one of Nick's friends, Shayla Lane, turned over to him. "Wow, Nick, that was really good! I really liked how you stayed in a crip falsetto."

He smiled. "Thanks. I was trying to stay in a baritone, but I guess my emotions got the best of me."

"Wow, you really like singing, don't you?"

"Come on, you of all people should know that it's my favorite thing to do."

She nudged him on the arm. "Hey, how about we start a jazz-rock band? I could be on guitar, we could get a few other friends to play drums and bass, and you could sing!"

"Sounds great! Let's get this started!"

* * *

**==Secret Ops Base, U.S.S. Columbia, Atlantic Ocean==**

The menger sponge collapsed to the floor in ten different pieces. Five of the pieces were colored while the other five were grey. Upon closer inspection, Raylan saw that the colored pieces were red, blue, green, pink, and yellow.

"Those...colors!" Raylan exclaimed. All of the operatives gave him weird looks.

"What are you talking about?" one of them asked him.

Raylan looked around. "Nothing..." he mumbled. For a second, he almost let out his Power Ranger secret. While General Fuller was required to know it, none of the other operatives could know. He looked at his morpher. None of the Rangers from Smalltown had given up their Powers and always kept their morphers on, just in case. They all worked perfectly fine and the Rangers knew it would come in handy at one point.

Raylan looked away from the disintegrated sponge. He knew something was about to happen. This was way too familiar to ignore.

Raylan Westbrook knew that the legacy of the Power Rangers was not over.


	2. Raylan's Mission

**==Secret Ops Base, U.S.S. Columbia, Atlantic Ocean==**

There was a small celebration aboard the U.S.S. Columbia with the operatives who were content that the menger sponge was finally opened. People threw each other hi-fives and everybody was in a happy mood.

Raylan, however, was stressed out in his cabin. When the coast was clear, he got onto the computer to videochat over to his wife.

"Hey, baby!" he told his wife, Emma.

After they both graduated college, they tied the knot. They shared their wedding date with Johnny and Ryleigh and even went to the same place for their honeymoon. The four of them moved to Palisade, North Carolina later on. About a year ago, Emma and Raylan had their first child; a baby girl named Casey. Johnny and Ryleigh also had a child at about the same time; a baby girl named Alissa.

"Hey, Raylan. How's everything going?" she asked, smiling. She held up their baby daughter. "Casey has been missing you. She can't wait for you to come home this weekend!"

Raylan waved to his daughter. "Hi, Casey!" he said, putting his nose up against the screen. The little girl cooed.

"So, what's going on?" Emma asked, placing Casey on the table.

"Well, there's something I really need to talk to you about."

"Well, what is it?"

"I think we just found morphers."

Emma went silent and blinked blankly. "What...are you serious?"

"Yeah. I think we just found keys to a new set of Power Rangers."

Emma laughed. "You're joking!"

Raylan was serious. "I'm not joking, baby. This is for real."

His wife swallowed. "Oh my gosh...not again."

"Well, it looks like it _will _happen again."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know. I can talk to General Fuller in private, but I'm going to need to find a group of teenagers fit for the task..._fast_. Isn't Ryleigh a teacher at the local high school?"

"Yeah, she is. I can ask her to watch some of the students that stand out to her. Then, we'll take it from there."

"All right, I'm in." he nodded.

Emma smelled Casey's diaper. She looked at her daughter and stuck her tongue out. "Someone's been messy. It looks like mommy will have to clean you off again!" she laughed. She looked at the screen. "Well, I'm going to have to go for now. Casey pooped her pants."

Raylan chuckled. "Do what you gotta do. I'll see you soon, cutie." He looked at Casey. "Bye-bye Casey! Daddy will be home real soon!"

Emma looked over to Casey. "Say goodbye to daddy for me!" she said in her baby voice. Casey laughed. "I guess that's Casey's way of saying goodbye. Anyways, we gotta go. Bye-bye!"

Raylan waved goodbye to his wife before signing out of the videochat. He got up to walk over to the general's office.

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

The final bell rang to dismiss all the students from school. Chase took his belongings out of his locker and turned to see a concerned Kenzie standing beside him. They were pretty good friends and he didn't mind her company since she wasn't interested in him. There was one point where she thought she might have had something for him, but they were able to patch that up.

"Hey, Kenzie. What's the matter?" he asked her.

"Well, I sorta got myself a date." she responded, biting her lip.

"Well, that's great! But, why are you upset?"

"Because I haven't been on a date in so long. I don't know what to wear or how to act." she half-smiled. She played around with her hair.

"Umm...then why are you asking me? Shouldn't you ask a girl?"

"I would, but I want to know what guys like."

Chase scratched his hair. "Well, the problem is...I haven't been on a date in a while, either. It's so hard to find the right girl, these days."

"Really? Even for a guy like you?"

"Yeah, I hate it when they don't leave me alone. Speaking of that, I think I accidentally got myself a date with Shannon Ackerman."

"Wow! She's really pretty! Good for you!"

"Yeah, but she was being really weird about it. She made it obvious that she wants to have sex.

Kenzie laughed. "Well, good luck with that."

AJ Barron spotted Kenzie and walked over to her. "Hey, cutie! Mind if I drive you home, today?" he asked her, wrapping his arms around her.

She gladly accepted the hug and wrapped her arms around him. "I wouldn't mind. I'm not really in the mood to walk, anyways."

AJ glared at Chase. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

Chase stared blankly. "Umm...this is my locker."

AJ gave him a suspicious nod. "Whatever..." he said, walking off with his girlfriend.

"That was odd." Chase said, closing his locker.

* * *

Nick and Shayla finally found enough members to get a band started. They recruited another five members: a bass player, a drummer, an rhythm guitarist, a female singer, and a keyboardist/pianist.

Shayla organized the entire seven-piece band to meet up in the Choir room. "What's up, guys? I'm really excited we could all get together and form a band!"

The seven of them cheered.

"So, I say that we should introduce ourselves." Shayla suggested. "First off, my name is Shayla and I play lead guitar." she said, standing up.

Nick stood up. "My name is Nick and I sing. I wouldn't mind playing some extra random instrument if that's needed."

The bass player stood up. "My name is Daryl and I play bass."

The drummer stood up. "My name is Hailey and I like to drum. When I get in the mood, I start to rock beyond belief!" she said, making the devil's horns with her fingers.

Next up was the rhythm guitarist. "My name is Kaylee and I play rhythm guitar. Riffing is my passion and I'm glad you guys got me to do this!"

The female vocalist stood up. "My name is Kelsey. I'm Kaylee's twin sister and I also sing!"

Last was the pianist. "My name is Burke and I play piano. I can also play synth if our band wants to go crazy sometimes.

Shayla clapped her hands together. "Well, this is awesome! We have a full band and I feel like we're ready to start making music!"

All of the bandmates cheered before pulling out sheet paper.

* * *

Jake and Niles were hanging out outside of the school.

"Yo, what did you think of our Chem teacher?" Jake asked.

"I think she's smoking hot. Married, but still smoking hot."

"I'd tap that. Would you?"

"Fuck yeah, I'd tap that!"

Just then, another guy paying attention joined in the conversation.

"Are you guys talking about Mrs. King?" he asked. Jake and Niles nodded their heads. "Well, I hear that her husband is the screamer for Never Remember Memories, the screamo band that headlined Warped Tour last summer."

Jake's eyes popped out. "You mean her husband is Johnny King? _The _Johnny King? _The _Johnny King as in _the_ Metalli-King? WHAT THE FUCK!?" he screamed. "What a lucky bastard!"

Niles swallowed deeply. "That guy is huge. I wouldn't want to be the guy that gets caught messing around with his wife."

"So I guess that means we should stop talking about her before something bad happens to us." Jake chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess so. What a bummer!"

"Tell me about it, homie. Total killer."

"Fuck, man. Now I can't even think about her because I respect the dude so much."

"I know, man. I feel you."

* * *

Alli Matthews took her belongings out of her locker and then closed it. In the distance she noticed Chase Vereen. She narrowed her eyes and shook her head. Unfortunately, she had to walk in his direction to get outside.

When she walked over there, he accidentally bumped into her.

"Ow!" she shrieked, dropping two of her textbooks.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that!" he apologized, bending over to pick up her books. "Aren't you Alli Matthews? The new girl from England?" he asked.

"Why, yes I am. And aren't you Chase Vereen, the asshole womanizer?" she bit back.

"Whoa...why are you getting all pissed?"

"Because you're a jerk and you know it."

"First of all, I'm not interested in any particular girl now. Second-"

She cut him off. "See how much of an asshole you are? You even have to try and explain yourself." she shook her head. "Maybe you should learn to control your goddamn dick and stay away from girls who don't want you."

Chase was astonished at what he heard. "Excuse me?" he asked.

"That's right...I heard about what you did with Natalie Cartman." she said, narrowing her eyes. Natalie and Alli were really good friends and always had each others' backs.

Chase squinted his eyes to try and remember what happened. Then, he realized what she was talking about.

"Whoa-there. I didn't do anything! She was the one on top of me! Then, the next day, she spread rumours about how I played her to get inside her pants! If I haven't even seen the girl in a bikini, how could I have seen her naked?"

"Because you're a jerk and you were probaby drunk."

That comment pissed Chase off. Not only did he not do anything to Natalie, he had also never drank a drop of alcohol in his life. "How could you say that about me? I have never drank anything before."

Alli shook her head and walked away. "Save it for later, asshole." she groaned, swaying her hips seductively as she walked away.

* * *

**==Secret Ops Base, U.S.S. Columbia, Atlantic Ocean==**

Raylan knocked on the general's door.

"Come in!" General Fuller shouted.

Raylan opened the door and faced his general. He saw the pieces of the menger sponge were on the general's desk. "General Fuller, there's something we have to talk about." he said. "It's about the menger sponge.

The general nodded his head. "Have a seat, Westbrook." he said.

Raylan took a seat and picked up the red shard. "Do you see these colored shards?" Raylan said. The general nodded his head. "I think I know what they're capable of."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, I once dealt with something like this when I was in high school."

"In high school?"

"Yeah, in high school. I think I know what these pieces are capable of doing, but I need your trust."

"If you've been able to earn my trust in the past, you obviously have it now."

"I'm going to need these pieces. I will take them to Palisade where I will put them in the right hands."

"You're going too fast for me to understand."

"Just say you trust me."

"Okay, I trust you." the general nodded.

"I'm going to need to take all ten pieces, general." Raylan said.

The general nodded and handed Raylan the pieces. "Westbrook, I trust you, but that doesn't mean that the higher ranking officials have to trust you. If you get these pieces in the wrong hands, we're going to have to hunt you down."

Raylan nodded. "I understand the consequences, general. Trust me, I know what I'm doing."

The general nodded. "Okay. I guess you better get going now, then. You know how to fly a jet, right?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Okay, well take an F-22 over to our North Carolina base and go from there. I'm putting this mission in your hands. Don't fail us."

Raylan nodded. "I won't, general." he said, walking out of the room.


	3. B-Day Blues

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Early that morning, Raylan flew the F-22 over to the North Carolina base in Palisade where he unloaded his suitcases filled with his clothes and the debris of the menger sponge. He was immediately given a rental car to drive down home and meet up with his family.

He walked over to the door of his house and rang the doorbell. He was so happy he was able to see his family. Not only that, he could surprise Emma and Casey with an early visit before she had to go to work. Emma worked in the local researach facility as a Microbiologist.

Emma opened the door holding Casey in her arm. "Honey! You're here!" she smiled, giving her husband a hug.

"Hey, I came home early just for you!" he said, kissing her on the cheek. "I"m going to be here for a while."

"Why? What happened?"

"General Fuller is putting me in charge of making sure the morphers get into the right hands. By the way, I'm going to need you to call Ryleigh about the high school kids."

"Already done. Why don't you come on inside? It's been a while!" she said, leading her husband into the living room.

He fell onto the sofa and took all the cushiony-ness inside. It was relaxing to finally be home for a change. He took Casey out of Emma's arms.

"Hey, cutie! Daddy missed you!" he said, rubbing his nose against hers. "Mommy said that you've been a good girl! Is that true?" he asked, tickling her tummy. The baby girl cooed in her father's arms.

"I see that Casey missed you a lot." Emma smiled. She kissed Raylan on the lips. "I missed you, too."

Raylan squeezed his daughter's cheeks. "It seems she got chubbier. Chubby, but still cute!" he said, squeezing her cheeks again, making her laugh.

"Honey, I think you should take a 'stroll' around town."

"Why?"

"Scouting."

"For what? Teenagers? Wouldn't they already be in school?"

Emma had to think for a minute. "Oh yeah, that's right. Well, just take Casey on her daily morning walk. I usually do it before work but I think you owe me a few days of walking her." she said, going into the garage to get the stroller out. "Here's the stroller. I'm going to get ready to go to work in about ten minutes or so which means you're going to be in charge of Casey."

"No duh, I'm her father." he chuckled. "Have fun at work. I'll be here all day!"

She narrowed her eyes. "I hope you didn't forget that _you _also have work to do."

"Oh yeah...that's right." he said, watching Emma ran up the stairs to go change. He looked over to his daughter. "Daddy's going to take you on a walk, today!" he said, touching his daughter's little nose. Suddenly, he smelled something funny. "Wow, Casey. Why do you have to poop in your diaper right when I get all relaxed? Come on, let's get you changed..." he groaned.

Before he got up to change her diaper, he looked at the family picture on the wall. He missed being home.

* * *

The morning bell rang at Palisade High School at students began to scurry off to class. Kenzie shut her locker and waited for her new boyfriend to show up.

She squealed when she felt a tap on her bag. Expecting AJ, she turned and hugged the guy. Instead, it was Chase.

"Umm...what are you doing?" he asked, slowly pushing her off.

Kenzie scratched her head. "Sorry, Chase, I thought you were AJ." she said.

"It's cool. By the way, how did your date go last night?" he asked.

"Our date is this Saturday. He just drove me home yesterday."

"Oh, I didn't know that."

Kenzie laughed. "How was your 'date' with Shannon?" she asked, poking Chase in his arm.

"That's today. Somebody please save me." he chuckled.

"Hey, she's not that crazy."

"Yeah, she's pretty damn crazy. Almost as crazy as that Alli chick."

"Alli? The British one?"

"Yeah, her."

"Why is she so crazy? What did she do to you?" Kenzie asked. She hadn't heard Alli being described that way before.

"She walked over to me for no reason and just told me off. I have no idea why but she did. And then she started to sway her hips like she was trying to seduce me or something."

Kenzie shook her head in a joking way. "Chase, you should be used to this."

"I _am _used to this, but there's something about that girl that really gets to me."

"As in...you like her?"

Chase stuck his tongue out. "Ew, that's disgusting. I _hate _Alli Matthews."

Kenzie raised her eyebrows. "I would argue with that. You're showing symptoms of a classic high school crush."

"Oh, please, why would I like that bitch?"

"Well, for one, she is easily one of the best looking girls that go here."

Chase considered that point for a minute. "No, she's a stupid bitch. I never want to see her again."

Kenzie winked at him. "I better get going before I'm late. I'll catch you later, 'Alli's boyfriend'." she laughed.

Chase narrowed his eyes and shook his head before laughing. "Yeah, whatever. I'll see you, too."

* * *

Jake wanted to skip his first period class. He had Algebra and hated the topic of math, not to mention that Mr. Harlow was monotoned beyond belief. In Palisade High School, classes were split into alternate days known as "A-Days" and "B-Days". Jake's "A-Day" class started off in Chemistry with Mrs. King while his "B-Day" class started off in Algebra. He didn't mind going to Chemistry to get a few looks at his teacher, but Algebra was boring.

Nick Carlisle sat in front of him. Jake tapped Nick on the shoulder. "Don't you think we shouldn't be learning anything at all on the second day of school?" he asked.

Nick turned around to face Jake. "I completely agree with you. However, if we don't start now, when will we?"

Jake nodded. "I'll give you that one. That's some true shit."

Nick reached into his pocket and pulled out a flyer. "Oh, by the way, I started a band with some friends. We're playing on Friday night at the Java House. It would be cool if you could come and maybe bring a few friends."

Jake nodded. "Yeah, that sounds cool. Where's the Java House?"

"It's the coffee shop and juice bar on Elmer Street."

"Sweet, I'll be there. I'll try to bring as many people as possible."

Mr. Harlow snapped at the two of them. "Hey! Be quiet! This is important information that you should be paying attention to!"

Both Nick and Jake scratched their heads. "Sorry, Mr. Harlow..." Nick mumbled.

When Mr. Harlow walked away, Jake tapped Nick again. "So what kind of band is this?" he asked, trying to keep his voice from being heard.

"Well, we were planning on doing some sort of a jazz-rock style, but we have a line-up where it's more of a classical-rock thing. I hope you like that genre."

"I actually do enjoy a bit of classic rock once in a while. I'll definitely be there, it'll be fun. So, what instruments do you guys have?"

"We have me on vocals, we have another girl on vocals, we have two guitarists, a bassist, a drummer, and a pianist."

"Sweet, that sounds awesome!"

"You bet!"

* * *

The final bell for the day rang and students were let out of their classes. Alli Matthews spotted Chase at his locker and shook her head.

"Chase!" she called out.

He turned around and groaned when he saw her. "What could you possibly want?"

She crossed her arms and walked over to him. "I hear you didn't apologize to Natalie." she said, raising her eyebrows.

Chase narrowed his eyes. "What? Why would I-"

"Because you're a dick."

"Would you leave me alone? I didn't do anything and I won't apologize for something I didn't do! If anything, it should be the other way around!"

"You're a womanizer, a cheater, an asshole, and a jerk. Guys like you disgust me."

Chase groaned and started to walk away. "Listen, I don't have time for you."

She grabbed his arm and pulled him to face her. "Oh, no, I'm not going to let you off the hook that easy."

"I didn't fucking do anything! Also, why did you just randomly walk over to me to tell me off? You did this to me yesterday, too."

"It's because it's the only time I see you with your goddamn dick zipped up." she groaned.

Chase walked away aggressively. "I'm done. Just leave me alone. I'm not going to give in to you."

Alli groaned and walked the other way. "Whatever, dick."

Kenzie was holding hands with AJ when she noticed the war going on between Chase and Alli. She laughed and shook her head. "Why can't they just get along?" she asked, chuckling.

AJ looked at her. "Chase Vereen?"

"Yeah, what other Chase?"

"Listen, Kenzie, I don't want you talking to him."

"W-w-what? Why?"

"Because he's a womanizer. I don't want him to try anything sneaky with you."

"Chase is literally my best guy friend. I've known him since I was 8. That's literally half my life."

AJ kissed her. "Baby, if you really wanted to make me happy, you wouldn't talk to other guys."

Kenzie wasn't sure how to react. Everything about AJ was so captivating, but Chase was one of her best friends.

"Come on, for me?"

Kenzie nodded out of intimidation. For some reason, it made her feel comfortable.

"Good." he said, hugging her.

She looked over to Chase. Why did she give in to AJ?

* * *

Taking care of Casey during the day was really hard for Raylan. He was only overseas for a month and he almost completely forgot how to change her diaper, give her a bath, walk her, and feed her. Not to mention the crying.

"Casey, you're really cute, but daddy's getting really worn down." he told her. "Can you please stop crying?"

Casey was crying because she accidentally tripped while trying to walk. Emma said on the phone that Casey had only learned how to take her baby steps about a week ago and she had been trying to walk ever since. She was trying to make the step from being an infant to a toddler.

Raylan tickled his daughter's tummy. For some reason, it completely changed her emotions from sad to happy.

He heaved a sigh of relief. "Phew, glad that's over with."

The door opened and Emma walked in. "Raylan, I'm home!" she called out.

Raylan watched as she walked into the room in her professional attire. "Thank God you're home, it was so hard taking care of Casey."

Emma laughed. "Wow, try taking care of her for an entire month while your husband is overseas."

"Oh, touché Emma."

"It's all right. If we're being good parents, it shouldn't matter who does what."

"I'm going to have nightmares when she grows up. If she's like this as a baby, imagine her as a teenager."

"Oh, it'll be all right. Remember, parenting is a learning experience."

The phone rang and Casey started crying.

"Oh, not again." Raylan groaned. He tickled the little girl's tummy again to stop her from crying.

Emma ran over and picked up the phone. "Hello, Westbrook residence?"

"Hey, Emma, it's Ryleigh."

"Oh, hey, Ryleigh!"

"Listen, I think I may have found some teenagers who fit the description."


	4. An Abusive Relationship

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

The piercing sound of Casey crying woke Raylan up from his deep sleep. He groaned and walked over to her crib. "Casey, what's the matter _now_?" he asked, half-asleep.

She sucked her thumb and rolled around, still crying a lot. Raylan tried to tickle her tummy, but Casey wouldn't stop crying.

Emma got up. "What is going on?" she groaned. "I'm tired..."

"So am I, but Casey won't stop crying."

Without hesitating, Emma picked up Casey and sniffed her butt. "No wonder, Casey pooped her pants again."

Raylan groaned. "Damnit, it's my turn."

Emma laughed. "Actually, it's mine, but if you insist..."

Raylan facepalmed. "All right, whatever." he said, carrying Casey to the bathroom. He opened up the medicine cabinet and pulled out a fresh new diaper. "All right, Casey, in you go..."

"Hey, honey, can you do me a favor?" Emma asked.

"Well, what kind of favor?"

"Can you call Tyler and ask him to come over here?"

"But he's all the way in California. What do you want him for, anyways?"

"I think he can help make some morphers. I know he was pretty genius when it came to stuff like that."

"Well, I guess so." Raylan said, finishing changing Casey's diaper. "Well, now that you're all done, you can go back to sleep."

Casey giggled when Raylan tickled her. "Gosh, our daughter is so cute." Emma said, hugging Raylan.

Raylan kissed Emma's forehead. "I know..."

* * *

Nick's alarm clock played the sound of Beethoven's Symphony 9 for about two minutes before it actually woke him up. It wasn't the best alarm tone because it was slow and sleepy, but Nick was so musically inclined that it was the only one that caught his attention.

When he got up, he could hear the sound of his 9-year-old younger brothers, Harley and Howard, getting into another argument. They were twins and couldn't stand each other very much.

"Great, I hope Ariana can seperate that mess." he groaned, walking into his bathroom. Ariana was his 14-year-old younger sister. The four of them were very close but had their serious arguments once in a while.

When Nick was done, he rushed downstairs and into the kitchen to find his brothers fighting over who would get the last bag of Pop-Tarts. Since their parents went to work early, the hierarchy of who was in charge went by age.

"Come on, guys. There are _two _Pop-Tarts in one bag. Why don't you just each take one?" he said, quieting the two.

Ariana walked into the kitchen. "They're your headache, now." she said. "Oh yeah, I don't need you to give me a ride to school. I already have one."

When Ariana turned around, Nick quietly pumped his fist. He hated driving his younger sister to school because she would never shut up about drama class. Nick was a choir kid, so he rivaled with the drama kids over the onstage spotlight.

The four of them heard honking outside and saw the elementary school bus. Harley and Howard ran outside with their backpacks and got on the bus. Less than a minute later, one of Ariana's friends showed up to give her a ride to school.

Nick sighed and went to the closet to get his lanyard.

* * *

The morning bell had another ten minutes before it would ring. Kenzie was at her locker stowing away her belongings, as usual. When she closed her locker, Chase was on the other side.

"Hey, Chase..." she said, looking away.

"Why are you so bummed? Anyways, I have to tell you what happened last night." he said, chuckling.

"Make it quick..." she groaned.

He gave her a look. "Are you all right?" he asked, backing off a bit.

She nodded her head. "Yeah, whatever...just tell me and get it done with..." she said.

"It doesn't sound like you're interested."

"Listen, I can't talk to you anymore."

"What? Why?"

"AJ said so."

"Who is he to say who you can and can't talk to?"

"Chase, he's my boyfriend. He's the only guy who has shown interest in me for a while."

"So you let him prevent you from talking to your best friend? That's bullshit!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms out.

AJ spotted them and walked over. "What's going on here?" he asked, angrily. He took Kenzie into his arms.

"Nothing..." she whimpered.

Chase shook his head. "AJ, I don't like what you're doing to her." he said.

AJ bumped his chest against Chase's. "Listen, bud, I don't want you trying anything sneaky with my girl." he said, making a fist.

Chase backed off. "I'm not trying to get into a fight or anything, I'm just asking that you be a little less clingy to her." he said, putting his hands in the air.

"You callin' me a pussy?"

"No, I am most definitely _not _calling you a pussy. I'm just telling you to lay off of her. She's my best friend and you're being a douche to her."

"Who are you to tell me what to do?"

"Who are you to tell _her _what to do?"

That was the final straw. AJ threw his fist straight at Chase's gut, sending Chase flying backwards. Chase hit the wall and groaned on the floor. Kenzie squealed and backed up against the locker.

"What the hell, man?" Chase asked, getting up.

AJ went at Chase again, this time hitting his face. Chase flew back against the wall and went down.

AJ stood over him. "That should teach you a thing or two." he threatened, forcefully taking Kenzie away with him.

Kenzie turned and looked at Chase's bloody face before being dragged off. _What am I doing?_ she thought.

* * *

First block in Ryleigh's class started and every boy in the room couldn't wait for her to walk in. When she did, they all rushed over to the front of the room.

"Wow, I've never seen so many kids wanting to sit in the front of the room, but whatever." Ryleigh smiled. She shrugged and wrote on the board. "So, who knows the first ten elements of the period table of elements?" she asked.

Before anyone could think, Jake answered. "Hydrogen! Helium! Lithium! Beryllium! Boron! Carbon! Nitrogen! Oxygen! Fluorine! Neon!" he answered in a hurry.

Ryleigh backed off a bit. "Wow! Well, that's interesting..." she said.

Niles gave Jake a weird look. "How did you know that?" he whispered.

Jake shrugged. "I dunno, I guess it just came to me." He looked over to Ryleigh to get a full view of all her beauty. "Damn, Mrs. King is looking so fine today."

Niles chuckled. "Hell yeah, she is." he said, nodding his head. "I approve of it."

"It's too bad she's married. It would have been really sweet if she wasn't."

"Well, it is what it is. Who cares? She's still damn sexy."

Jake reclined in his seat. "Yeah, you're definitely right about that part. This is gonna be one awesome year." he mumbled to himself.

Niles reclined, as well. "You're damn right it is." he said, taking a breather.

* * *

Alli Matthews zipped through her history pre-test. She wasn't the smartest girl in school, but straightforward subjects like history and science just came to her, naturally. She wasn't a genius, but she was good at understanding things.

She got up and turned her test in to the teacher. The teacher, Mr. Joseph, gave her a funny look. "Are you sure you're done?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm one-hundred percent positive." she smiled, flipping some blonde hair out of her eyes. Her thick British accent was still prevalent in her speech.

"All right...if you say so." he said, putting her test on his stack of papers to grade.

She sat back down and looked over at the boys on both sides of her. She saw that they were only about halfway done with the test while she was completely finished with it. When they noticed that she glanced at them, they returned dreamy looks towards her. Feeling silghtly unconfortable, she put her head down and took a nap.

She was awoken by the sound of laughter erupting in the room. When she got up, she noticed that everyone was done with the test.

The boy to the right of her, Jimmy, winked at her. "So, are you free tonight?" he asked.

She scratched her head. She was easily the most attractive girl in the school, but she just wasn't ready for dating.

"I am free tonight, but I'm not trying to start dating, yet. I want my high school career to be dedicated to my studies." she said, still smiling.

Her way of putting him down was still nice. "I understand. Is it because you're into Chase?" he asked. "I've seen you two getting really close, lately..."

Alli's face went from smiling to disgust. She stuck her tongue out. "Ew...you think I'm with Chase? That's nasty!" she exclaimed.

"Really? I saw the way you talked to him. You seem like you were really getting into it."

She shook her head quickly. "No, no, no, no, no. Life with Chase would be hell. He's a douche. I would never in my life ever try and get with Chase. That's gross."

Jimmy laughed. "Okay, _whatever _you say."

* * *

The final bell for the day rang and everybody was where they usually were. Chase walked over to Kenzie's locker with bandages all over his face.

She squealed when she saw him. "Chase! Oh my gosh...you have to get out of here before AJ-"

Chase shook his head. "I don't give a shit what AJ thinks or what AJ wants. If he won't let you talk to your best friend, then he's not fit for you."

"Chase, I don't want you to get in another fight. I really care about you and I don't want to see you get injured."

"I won't get injured. I won't let him do anything to either of us."

AJ spotted them talking and walked over, aggressively. "Vereen! What the fuck? I told you to stay away from my girl!"

"Listen, I'm not trying to get into a fight or anything, but-"

"Shut the fuck up! I thought I already made it clear the first time!"

Kenzie shuddered and put herself against the lockers. "Guys, please stop..." she whimpered.

"I don't want you trying any funny business with her, do you understand that?" AJ threatened.

"I've known her for half my life. I won't try anything with her. She's like a sister to me. And besides, you only met her a few days ago, who are you to tell her who she can and can't talk to?"

AJ shook his head. "Kenzie, I'll give you a choice: me or him?"

Kenzie's entire body shook. She had to make a hard decision, her first boyfriend in a long time or her best friend? Within seconds, however, she made up her mind. "I take Chase. It's an obvious choice and I can't believe you would force me to make that decision." she said, walking over to her best friend.

AJ cursed under his breath. "Fuck you, Kenzie. We're through." he said, storming off.

Kenzie started to sob. "Wow, that was such a short relationship..."

Chase took her in his arms. "It's all right, you'll find a better guy, someday. One that'll treat you right. What you were in was an abusive relationship; he had you under his spell so that you wouldn't be able to break out."

She finally left his arms. "You're right, that's no way to treat somebody. Thanks for all the support." she said. By this time, she was starting to smile. "Oh, can I ask you for a favor?" she asked.

"What is it?"

"Can you drive me home? I'm a little short on a ride now that AJ left." she chuckled.

"Of course." he smiled, walking her over to his car.

Alli Matthews watched from a distance and shook her head. _I knew he wouldn't be able to keep his damn dick in his pants. _she thought.


	5. Beast From The Deep

_I think I drop enough hints as to what the Rangers' colours will be in this chapter._

**==Underground Temple, Saudi Arabia==**

Deep inside the underground temple where the menger sponge was found, a great beast awakened from a deep slumber. Before grogging out of its chamber, it looked at its surroundings. Something was missing.

"Where is my treasure?" it grumbled, looking at the spot where the menger sponge used to be.

Suddenly, the beast's monster minions raced into the room. "My lord, is it true that you are awake?" one of them asked.

"You babbling idiot, of course it's true! How else could you have asked me?" the beast roared.

"My lord...what is the matter?" the other minion asked.

"The Colored Capsules...where are they?" the beast asked.

"Umm...aren't they supposed to be on the golden stand?"

The beast facepalmed. "You idiot, of course they're supposed to be on the golden stand! But use your head for one minute...why would I ask you if they _were _on the golden stand?"

"Umm...becaues they're not on the golden stand?"

"Correct! So why do you ask me stupid questions?"

"I'm sorry...we will be taking our leave." they said, walking out.

The beast paced back and forth. "What happened? Where did it go?" it grumbled.

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Alli Matthews woke up from having a terrible nightmare. She luckily woke up right at the part where she had to kiss Chase. _Blegh, __I'm glad that wasn't real__. _she thought, scratching her eyes. It was Thursday, which meant that the next day would be the last day of the first week of school. She couldn't wait for the typical excitement of the weekend.

She jumped out of bed and walked straight into the bathroom. When she was in the shower, all she could think of was how she could piss Chase off. While Natalie was truly one of her good friends, she had no idea why that propelled her to walk over to him and bitch him out.

When she got out of the shower, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her long, platinum-blonde hair was all the way down over her eyes and she had to manually move it out of the way to see. She wasn't the type of person who would praise herself over her looks, but she was always proud of how she looked everyday. She didn't try and take too much pride in herself, but had enough to the point where she had some sort of self-esteem.

She found her hot pink t-shirt in her closer and threw it on. The instant she got it on, her new white iPhone with a pink case vibrated. She walked over to it and read the text message from an unknown number. While the number wasn't on her contacts, she recognized it as Chase's.

"_hey i got a really nasty voicemail from u...we need to talk_" it read.

She quickly typed out a reply. "_who is this and what do u want 2 talk about?_" Even though she knew it was Chase, she had to try and play it off.

"_its chase and we have to talk about YOU_"

She shook her head and groaned. "_no, y should i take time out of MY day 2 talk 2 u?_"

"_becuz its urgent...just meet me at my locker in the morning_"

She groaned, turned her iPhone off, and put it back into her pocket.

* * *

Jake looked at his mirror and complimented himself. _You are the single greatest looking guy that the gods have ever conceived. _he thought. He was full of himself and he knew it, but he didn't care since it made him feel good. He was wearing his new green sweatshirt that had the name of his favorite band centered on it: Judas Priest.

As he was going ot walk out of his bathroom, he accidentally tripped on a tower and fell to the ground. He hit his nose right on the tiled floor and started a downpour of blood pouring right out of it.

_Are you fucking kidding me? _he thought. _And today was the day I would finally grow the balls to ask out Alli Matthews! _He, along with the rest of the guys at Palisade High School, was after Alli. He had been rejected multiple times, but that didn't stop him from dreaming. In fact, he just woke up from a dream which involved him hooking up with Alli after a crazy party he threw. It involved lots of drinking, kissing, and sex.

He got up and started to dab his bloody nose with a piece of toiler paper. He groaned at the fact that he might suffer being tardy during the first week of school.

He remembered that he had to go for the concert at the Java House the next day. He was excited about that so he didn't want to do anything stupid that might hurt his chances of going for it.

He wasn't great friends with Nick, but he knew him to the point where he felt comfortable hanging out with him. He also didn't mind getting into the classical rock groove once in a while.

He pulled out his phone and dialed Niles's number. "Hey, Niles, what's up? Do you maybe wanna go with me and a few other kids to the Java House tomorrow for a concert? You do? All right, sweet! Sounds like a plan!" he said, hanging up.

* * *

Nick got up to his Symphony 9 alarm. Unlike yesterday, he didn't have to wake up to the sound of his brothers fighting. Instead, he heard the TV playing _SpongeBob SquarePants _on full blast. He didn't enjoy the show too much, but it kept Harley and Howard busy.

He grabbed a deep blue shirt with a large white treble clef splattered on it to wear to school. He tried getting into the bathroom that the four siblings shared only to find that it was locked. He heard the sound of the shower pouring down and realized that Ariana was still in there.

"Ari? Get out! You're wasting too much time!"

"No! Go take a shower somewhere else!" she yelled back.

"My toothbrush, towel, razor, and anything else I need is in there!"

"Go improvise!" her voice echoed.

He groaned and walked over to his parents' bathroom. Since they weren't home, he didn't mind taking a shower there. They always bought a surplus of extra toothbrushes, so that wasn't a problem. They also had extra towels in the closet, so he could just use one of them. Also, he hadn't grown much facial hair over a day's time, so he didn't really need to shave that much.

In his parents' bathroom, he saw his dad's violin. Rather than using a smart-phone on the go, his dad always played violin. Unfortunately, the shrill humming of a violin allowed the entire family to know when their father was taking care of his business. Since their family was very fine arts oriented, it wasn't a surprise to hear different variantions of music coming from the household.

He smiled as it reminded him of the concert. He gathered a lot of kids from school who vowed to give up their Friday night to come over to the Java House and listen to their band perform. They hadn't come up with a name, yet, and Shayla told him to just improvise one up right before the concert starts.

* * *

Kenzie was barely able to get out of bed. She felt like a huge weight was lifted off her chest when she was through with AJ. She was finally able to talk to Chase again and she wasn't so restricted when it came to talking to other guys. She looked at her alarm clock and saw that she only had ten minutes before her friend, Kayla, would show up to give her a ride to school. Kenzie usually hitched a ride with Chase or AJ, but since none of them were at her disposal at the moment, she had to resort to Kayla.

She threw herself out of her bed and into the bathroom, where she started up the shower. When she stepped in, she squealed at the icy cold temperature. _Why is it so cold!? _she thought, before deciding to brave the low temperature.

When she was clean enough, she jumped out of the shower and shivered. She immediately threw a yellow towel around her and ran into her bedroom. She noticed her clock showed that she was late, and scourged for a clean t-shirt to wear. She was finally able to find a good yellow t-shirt with a flower on it to throw on.

She looked out the window and saw that Kayla was waiting in her car to drive both of them to school. When Kenzie locked the door and got completely ready, she ran outside of her house and jumped right in Kayla's car.

"Why are you so late?" Kayla asked.

"I just had a weird morning. Anyways, it doesn't matter that much, anymore. So, what's up?" Kenzie responded.

* * *

Chase was woken up early by a nasty voicemail he received from Alli. He didn't know how she got his number, but what he heard on the other end of the line disturbed him. He guessed that she was sleeptalking, but it was still gross to hear.

He wanted to listen to it again, but he also _didn't _want to have to go through all the psychological trauma it induced on him the first time. After a little bit of thought, he decided to give the voicemail another go.

He winced when he heard Alli's piercing British accent. "_Chase...kiss me more...please don't stop...this is perfect...you're so hot...don't leave me...please, don't leave me..._" she pleaded. It was evident by her tone that she was sleeping, but the fact that she was able to get and dail Chase's number in her sleep was frightening.

He tried to shake it off his body by rushing out of bed and into the shower. Luckily, his 20-year-old older sister, Hannah, was in college, and his 12-year-old younger brother, Nathan, went to his middle school early. As a result, he didn't have to fight for bathroom times.

Throughout the entire shower, he couldn't get his mind around what Alli had said. Did she really mean every word of it or was she having a nightmare? There was no way to tell.

When he got ready, he walked into his room, pulled out his Android phone, and started to text the number Alli used to call him.

"_hey i got a really nasty voicemail from u...we need to talk_" he texted.

Within seconds, he got a reply. "_who is this and what do u want 2 talk about?_" she replied. He knew she knew who it was, but he didn't want to go through the extra trouble and call her out on it.

"_its chase and we have to talk about YOU_" he sent. He was confused and angry at the same time.

"_no, y should i take time out of MY day 2 talk 2 u?_" her text replied. He laughed and thought about why he spend his morning listening to what she had to say.

"_becuz its urgent...just meet me at my locker in the morning_" he sent, putting his phone away. He didn't expect a reply.

He saw a dark red t-shirt hanging in his closet and put it on. He wasn't sure how this day of school would go.

* * *

Raylan was woken up by a call from General Fuller. "General Fuller?" Raylan answered.

"Operative Westbrook, we have some news to spill to you."

"What is it?"

"Remember the Arabian temple we raided to get the menger sponge that I gave to you?"

"Uhh...yeah."

"Well, there have been reports of flying spirits around it."

Raylan went quiet for a few seconds "Are you serious?" he finally asked.

"Yes. Have you been playing around with the device, at all?"

"No, sir, I have not."

"Well, I trust that you are keeping the device in good hands. That is correct, right?"

"Yes, sir! I won't let it out of my sight!"

"Good, now you do that." the general replied, hanging up.

Emma got up and groaned. "What was that all about?"

"Who are those kids Ryleigh talked about? We have to get them these powers, _fast!_"


	6. Just Savin' The World

**==Smalltown, California, United States==**

Tyler Blake woke up when he got a phone call early in the morning. Looking over at the caller ID, he saw that it was Raylan. "Hello?" he responded.

"Tyler? It's me, Raylan."

"Yeah, what's up? It seems you forgot that California and North Carolina have a time distance."

There was no noise on the other end of the line. "Shit, I forgot. Listen, man, I'm sorry."

"Nah, it's cool. So, what's up?"

"I think I found morphers to create a new set of Rangers?"

"What!?"

"Yeah, you heard me loud and clear. Morphers. M-O-R-P-H-E-R-S. Morphers."

"Wow. How did you find them?"

"How I found them is top secret, but I need you to come over here to Palisade and help me create morphers."

"Can't you just get your wife to do it? She's crazy good with this techology stuff."

"Yeah, but I want the master. Tyler, you're the top engineer who graduated from Stanford, who better could I ask for?"

"All right, I'll come. I should be there tomorrow."

"Thanks, bro. I'll see you tomorrow. Oh yeah, by the way, can you bring Gadget-X? He could help out, too."

"Yup."

"All right, see ya."

"See ya." Tyler said, hanging up the phone. _Damn, new Power Rangers? _he thought.

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Alli Matthews got to school and waited by Chase's locker like he had asked. Since she was fast asleep, she had no idea what the voicemail she left said or how she had left it.

She shook her head when she saw Chase walk into the school. He instantly spotted her and walked over to where she was standing.

"Hey, Chase." she said, looking away.

"Umm...so...about that voicemail..." he said, looking the opposite direction.

"What about it?" she asked, turning her attention to him.

"Uhh...well...did you...umm...uhh..." Chase couldn't pick the right words to say.

"Out with it!" she exclaimed.

"You were talking about...kissing me and such..." he said, scratching his head, trying to make awkward eye-contact.

She laughed. "I was obviously sleeping...I had a dream...err...I mean a nightmare..." she tried to say. She did her best to make her story sound convincing.

"So...that...wasn't real?" he asked.

"No, it wasn't."

"So, this isn't as awkward as it originally was?"

"No."

"Can we just pretend like this never happened and each move on with our lives? You know...like going back to hating each other and such?"

"Yeah, whatever..."

"So, we're all good?"

"No, we're still not 'all good'. Learn to keep your damn dick in your pants."

Chase started to walk away. "I'm not getting into this again. Goodbye!" he waved.

She shook her head and groaned. _What a terrible nightmare. _she thought.

* * *

Kenzie was at her locker putting away her belongings. For the past three days, AJ came over to help her out, but they weren't together, anymore. Instead, she saw Chase walking over.

She noticed the glum look on his face. "What's the matter?" she asked him.

He shook his head. "Nothing...it's just Alli Matthews again..."

"Alli Matthews? Did she bitch you out, again?"

"No, she didn't bitch me out..."

"Then, what's the matter?"

"I don't really want to talk about it. It was weird and I don't want to remind myself about what happened."

"Come on, you can tell me. I'm your best friend, we've told each other plenty of secrets in the past."

"I just don't feel like sharing this one..."

"All right, that's your choice. Anyways, can you help me carry my stuff to class, today? I had a project in the first week of school and it's way too heavy for me to carry."

"Yeah, I can help you out with that." he said, picking up her large box. "What the hell!? This is so heavy! What's in this?" he asked, almost dropping it.

"No! Don't drop it!" she said, catching it with him. "Colored rocks."

"Colored rocks? Why do you have colored rocks in this box?"

"Ha-ha, that rhymed. Anyways, I have 'colored rocks in this box' because that's what the teacher asked for."

"Wow, some dumb teacher. Let's get to class." he said, leading her to her first period class.

* * *

Jake saw Alli was sitting by herself at her locker. He read somewhere that the best time to pick up a girl was when they're alone. Without hesitating, he started to walk awkwardly over to her locker.

"Hey, sexy." he said. His pick-up lines were terrible, and it was evident that she could see that.

"Umm...excuse me?" she asked.

"You know...cause you're sexy." he said, clicking his tongue.

She stared blankly at him. "Uhh...okay?"

"Yeah, so what's up?"

"Listen, you're a great guy and all, but I'm really not interested in dating. Hell, I don't even know your name."

"My name is Jake Fernandez. But it's all right if you're not interested in dating. There's an entire school of girls that I could pick from."

She stuck her thumb up. "Go get 'em." she chuckled.

He walked away. Even thought he got rejected, he was still happy. For some reason, she had this effect on all guys. _Maybe it's her British accent._ he thought. _People with British accents always sound nice. Oh well, time to go pick up another girl! _he smiled.

He was the classic teenage boy whose hormones raged. He wasn't too involved with girls and would take whatever he could. If a girl didn't want him, he was fine with that. He respected their choice.

In the distance, he spotted Shayla Lane. _Wow, Shayla is beautiful! Maybe I should go pick her up..._

* * *

Nick was in the drama room watching his sister perform her monologue. He didn't want to go, but she had insistsed that he go watch her. It was so painfully boring that he dozed off a few times. He saw honest to her, though, when he said that he only came to have an excused pass to skip first period.

When she was done, she walked over to him. "How was it?" she asked.

"You were terrible." he responded. "Well, not you, but the monologue."

"So you admit that I'm a better actor than you are a singer?" she said. He knew this was all some evil plot to one-up him.

"No, I didn't admit anything. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a class to get to." he said, walking out of the drama room.

Outside of the drama room, he spotted Jake talking to Shayla. He always liked to come back and embarrass Shayla about her past boyfriends, so he pulled out his iPhone and snapped a quick picture of the scene.

When Jake left, Shayla saw Nick and walked over to him. "Were you watching!?" she shrieked.

"Of course!" he laughed. "So, what did he talk to you about?"

"Well, he asked me if I wanted to go out."

"And...what did you say?"

"I said 'yes'." she smiled.

* * *

Casey wouldn't stop crying. When Raylan was away overseas, he literally forgot all about Casey's behaviors. Since Emma was at work, he was the only one who could stay home and take care of her. Emma told him that when she went to work, she usually dropped Casey off at a day-care, but Raylan couldn't do that since he had to bond with his daughter.

"Casey, what's the matter _now_?" he asked, looking at his now smiling daughter. "Wait, why are you happy all of a sudden?"

"Goo-goo-gaa-gaa" she cooed, rolling around on the floor.

Raylan smelled something funny. "Really, Casey? Why do you make daddy do so much work?" he groaned, picking her up. He smelled her butt. "Yup, you really filled that diaper up, quite well." he said, pinching his nose.

He carried her off to the bathroom where they kept the diapers. He screamed when he found out that there was only one left. Casey was still giggling in his arms.

"Casey, couldn't you find a better time to go poo-poo? Now daddy has to drive _all the way _over to the store!"

She giggled and sucked on her thumb.

"Come on, let's get into the car." Raylan said, carrying her into the garage. He propped her up in her booster seas in the car and drove her off to the local babystore to buy some more diapers.

* * *

The rumors in school had been spreading around, fast. Shannon Ackerman went around and told all the other girls that she had sex with Chase. While that wasnt' true, it made her the envy of every other girl in the school.

Eventually, that rumor made it all the way to Alli. In fact, Shannon told Alli, herself. She was disgusted and unsurprised at the same time. She despised Chase and wanted to spill the news to Kenzie, regardless of whether it was true or not. Her goal was to bring him down. However, she couldn't get her mind off of that terrible nightmare and subsequent voicemail.

In between classes, she found Kenzie in the hallway. "Hey, Kenzie." she said with a twisted smile on her face.

"Hey, Alli, what's up?" Kenzie replied.

"Did you hear about Chase and Shannon."

Kenzie raised her eyebrows. "Umm...he tried to tell me something about it but at that time AJ wouldn't let me talk to him."

"Yeah, we'll he fucked Shannon."

Kenzie didn't reply. She put her hands over her mouth. "...what?" she finally said.

"Yeah, that's right."

"How do you know?"

Alli's twisted smile turned demented. She knew she was winning. "Everybody's talking about it. I heard it straight from Shannon. I think you should be a little careful around him."

"Why would I be careful around him? He's my best friend and would never try anything sneaky with me!"

"You never know that." Alli smiled as she walked away.

Kenzie stood there, dumbfounded. She didn't know how to react and stormed off to go talk to Chase.

Chase was at his locker putting his stuff away. He spotted Kenzie and smiled. "Hey, Kenzie! What's up?" he asked.

She crossed her arms and shook her head. "I heard about you and Shannon."

"Yeah, how we worked on our project and-"

"You fucked Shannon Ackerman!?"

Chase's eyes popped out. "Whoa-whoa-whoa...what did you say?"

"You fucked Shannon Ackerman."

'Umm...no I didn't. Who told you this?"

"Alli Matthews told me this. She also told me Shannon told her."

"See what happens with all this 'he said, she said' bullshit? Rumors start. I didn't do anything with Shannon. We just worked on our assignment quietly and called it a day."

"Well, apparently Shannon is going around and telling everyone that you guys had sex."

"We didn't. Also, why would you trust Alli when it comes to dealing with me? When it comes to things that hurt my reputation, she's always first in line to help bring me down." Chase said. He couldn't stop thinking about the voicemail. Now he really doubted whether she really meant everything she said.

"Chase, I'm sorry I listened to Alli. I should have used my common sense."

Chase pulled her in for a hug. "It's all right, I would have acted out of shock, too."

She pulled out when she got the warmth she wanted. "Hey, wanna go to the Java House on Friday for Nick and Shayla's concert?"

"Well, I mean, that's where I work on weekdays, so I will obviously be there. Shouldn't you have already known that?"

Kenzie facepalmed. "Oh yeah, of course. Duh!"

* * *

**==Smalltown, California, United States==**

Tyler stowed Gadget-X in his portable form and put him in his suitcase. He boarded the immediate next flight to North Carolina to get there as soon as possible. If what Raylan had told him was true, then the world face another threat.

On the plane, he was seated in between a male of his age and another middle-aged male.

The male his age tried to start a conversation with the two of them. "So, why are you guys going to N.C.?" he asked.

The middle-aged male spoke first. "I'm taking a connecting flight to New York City to visit my family."

"Oh, I'm also taking a connecting flight; only mine is to Philadelphia, not New York City." the younger male replied. He turned to Tyler. "So, why are you going there?"

"Oh, you know, just savin' the world." Tyler chuckled.


	7. Chase Vs Shannon

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Tyler's flight landed early Friday morning. When he got off the airplane, he saw Johnny King also leaving another airplane. Johnny came back from headlining Warped Tour to go home and see his family before his band had to record another studio album.

"Johnny? Is that you?" Tyler asked, rushing over to him.

"Tyler Bleak! Whaddup!?" Johnny exclaimed, giving Tyler a bro hug. "So, what brings you here?"

"Raylan called. It's actually something all of us have to talk about."

"Like what?"

"Well, it's not something I can talk about in public, but it's really important."

Johnny pointed over to his morpher, still wrapped tightly around his wrist.

"Yeah, it has to do with our powers." Tyler answered.

"All right, we'll go to Raylan's house to talk about it." Johnny agreed. "I'll call in a taxi."

"No need to worry, Raylan said he'd be glad to pick me up. I don't think he knows you're here."

"Yeah, I only told Ryleigh. I guess she didn't tell anyone else."

Tyler's phone vibrated. "Hey, it's Raylan. He says that he's here. Let's get over to his car."

Johnny nodded and they both walked out of the airport. After about a minute of looking, they spotted Raylan sitting in his car with Casey strapped up in the back.

"Johnny? You came home, too?" Raylan asked, opening the door for his friends.

"Yeah, I still have some time before we record."

"Sweet! I'll help you with your bags..." Raylan said, lifting Johnny's and Tyler's bags into the trunk.

When they were all done, they got into the car. Tyler called shotgun, leaving Johnny to sit next to Casey.

"Wow, she's still so cute!" Johnny exclaimed, pinching Casey's cheeks. She isntantly started crying. "What!? I didn't even do anything!"

"She just needs some 'getting used to you' time. Try tickling her tummy." Raylan answered.

Johnny nodded his head and tickled Casey's tummy. Within seconds, her sadness turned into joy.

"Wow, looking at how cute Casey has become makes me miss Alissa." Johnny said, looking down.

"Emma and I just went over to your house yesterday. Alissa got really cute, too. Casey and Alissa are really starting to get along well." Raylan said, occassionally glancing to the back seat. Then, he looked over to Tyler. "So, Tyler, any new girls, yet?"

Tyler shook his head. "Not yet, I'll get 'em soon."

Johnny laughed. "Tyler, you're twenty-seven. You have a job. You have a house. This is the age to settle down and get married."

Tyler shook his head again. "My philosophy is work now, settle later."

"But, if you work now then you will _never _be able to settle later."

"Ehh...we'll see."

* * *

When Chase stepped out of his car and into the school, he could sense that the atmosphere was tense. Whenever he walked past girls, they would give him an evil glare. Whenever he walked past guys, they would give him a jealous glare. Confused, he walked over to Kenzie.

"Hey, Kenzie. What's going on?" he asked.

Kenzie chuckled. "People are taking this Shannon Ackerman rumor way too far. She has instantly become the girl everone is jealous of."

"Why? We didn't even do anything together!"

"That's not what she's telling people..."

"Well, I'm going to go over and talk to her."

"Good luck, I already tried that." Kenzie laughed. "She's as stubborn as you were in middle school. Remember when you didn't listen to me when I told you not to take the hardest math level possible?"

Chase shook his head. "Yeah I remember. Anyways, I'll talk sense into her, just watch." he said, walking down to the hallway where he predicted Shannon's locker was.

He couldn't believe this. Why would she lie about what they did for the project? Chase couldn't imagine what on Earth would have caused her to try such a move. He knew that girls were instantly jealous when they were paired up for the 'get-to-know-each-other' project, but he never imagined that it would blow up this much.

He spotted Shannon and walked over to her. "Shannon, what the fuck!?" he shouted, gathering the attention of everyone around her.

She didn't want to look like a liar in front of the school. "What are you talking about?" she lied. She was really good at lying, so it was no problem coming up with an excuse on the spot. "I thought we were on good terms..." she fake whimpered.

"Oh, don't even give that bullshit. I heard what you've been telling people!" he shouted. It was evident that this wasn't going to be solved very soon.

"Well, maybe you shouldn't have talked me into having sex." she snickered. By the looks of the people around them, it looked like they were on her side.

"I didn't talk you into anything. We didn't even touch each other, let alone have sex!"

Both of them could hear murmuring in the crowd. It appeared that at this point, nobody could side with anyone.

"Yes, we did and you know it!"

"No, we didn't and you know it!"

"You're a liar!"

"No, you're a lair!"

"We're through!" she screamed. There were gasps in the audience.

"What are you talking about? We were _never _together!" Chase shouted. By this time, he was furious.

Kenzie could hear Chase's voice reverberating throughout the school and followed it to find out what was going on. She pushed her way into the center of the crowd and got front row seats to what was unfolding.

"Shannon, I thought you were a nice girl. Now, I know that you're a lying bitch! I can't believe I even thought about you romantically."

Shannon gasped. "You actually thought about me...romantically?"

"Of course I did. You're gorgeous, but now I see through that beauty. Behind what's on the outside is a monster on the inside."

Shannon kneed Chase where it hurt. "Fuck you, Chase! I don't need you!" she screamed, storming off.

Kenzie rushed over to her best friend. "Oh my gosh, are you okay?" she asked, cupping his groin.

"You might want to take your hand off of that, it's kinda awkward." he chuckled.

She squirmed and got her hands off. "Uhh...sorry." she apologized.

He tried to break a smile through his agonizing pain. "It's okay, at least people know that Shannon was lying."

She pulled him to his feet. "Come on, I'll help get you to class."

Alli Matthews was watching in the crowd and when she saw how it concluded, she facepalmed. For a while, she thought she actually had something to hold against him, but now it was proven that Shannon was lying.

* * *

Jake and Niles met Nick at his locker. "Yo, Nick!" Jake called out.

Nick smiled and waved back. "Hey guys, what's up?"

"We just wanted to tell you that we're excited as hell for your concert tomorrow." Niles said.

Nick started laughing. "Is it because you're actually excited or is it because your girlfriend is going to be there?" Nick asked, looking at Jake.

Jake was dumbfounded. "How do you know about me and Shayla?"

"Oh, come on, she's my best friend, how would I not know?" he chuckled. "Anyways, thanks for being able to come. It means a lot."

Niles turned to Jake. "Why didn't you tell me you had a girlfriend? I thought we were supposed to keep it together!"

"Well, I was about to tell you. Anyways, I have to go meet her at her locker in a few minutes, so I'm off to go do that." he said, scurrying off, leaving just Niles and Nick.

"So...what's up?" Niles asked, awkwardly.

"Nothing much." Nick replied, equally as awkwardly.

"So...yeah..." Niles said, putting his hands in his pocket.

"This is...awkward..." Nick replied, also putting his hands in his pocket.

"Aren't you not supposed to say it's awkward when it really is awkward?"

"But isn't the point of saying it's awkward when it is awkward to kill the awkwardness?"

"Then wouldn't that make the awkwardness redundant?"

Nick had to think for a second. "Damn, I think we just made a fact!"

"Hell yeah, that's some string theory shit right there!" he agreed, high-fiving Nick.

* * *

At the end of the day, Alli walked over to Chase's locker for her 'daily argument'. "Hello, Chase." she sneered.

He groaned. "What now?" he asked, throwing his hands out.

"I just wanted to admit to you that you were right...and I was wrong."

Chase knew she was talking about the Shannon thing. He was confused that she would apologize to him. "Umm...well...I accept your apology."

"This doesn't change anything, though." she said.

"Well, what do you mean?"

"I still think you're an asshole."

He laughed. "Whatever. I don't care what you think about me."

"So, I guess you'll be watching the concert at the Java House, today."

"No shit, I work there! Oh, but you wouldn't have seen me through the crowd of sluts like you."

She shook her head, narrowed her eyes, and crossed her arms. "You just don't seem to get it, do you?"

"Alli, I don't know what you mean. Why do you always walk over to me and bitch me out?"

"It's because you're an asshole!" she said. She groaned and stormed off. "I'll deal with you, later."

Kenzie giggled and walked over. "Wow, I always like watching you and Alli get into arguments. It's so entertaining."

"Ugh, she sickens me. Why does she hate me so much?"

"I think you might have something for her."

He tried to hold back his vomit. "Oh, please. Alli Matthews? Give me a break!" he laughed.

* * *

Raylan, Tyler, and Johnny were just chilling out at Raylan's house. There was the occasional break of silence when Casey would cry to let her father know that she had gone poo-poo, but it was relaxing outside of that.

"You know, I really miss getting together like this." Johnny said, reclining in the sofa.

"Yeah, if only Shane, Mike, and Sydney could be here." Raylan agreed.

"Well, Shane is trying to sight-see around the world with his new girlfriend, Mike is forced to stay and protect Smalltown, and Sydney is filming the new _Justice Hero 5 _in L.A." Tyler said, filling the other two in.

"Wow, why didn't Shane tell his own best friend that he got a new girlfriend?" Raylan asked.

Tyler shrugged. "He was trying to keep their PDA at a minimum. Anyways, Sydney got the lead love interest role."

Johnny's eyes popped out. "No way, she did? That'a amazing!"

Raylan laughed. "Come on, Johnny. You're the frontman for one of the most well-known metal bands. You tour the entire world giving music to dying fans. I think you have it pretty awesome, too."

Johnny and Tyler looked at Raylan. "You know, you never told us what you do for a living." Tyler said.

Raylan couldn't tell them what he did since it was top secret. He had to come up with a lie, fast. "Uhh...I'm an engineer overseas." he lied, scratching his head.

Johnny and Tyler bought it. "Oh, that's cool." Johnny agreed.

Casey started bawling. Raylan picked her up and smelled her butt. "Aww, come on, Casey! How many times can you poop in one day? Come on, let's get you changed." he groaned.

Johnny chuckled. "Ryleigh always takes Alissa to day-care so we don't have to put up with this throughout the day while we're at work."

Tyler reclined in the sofa. "That's why I don't have kids, yet. I'm not patient enough to keep up with all of this."

"So, when do you want to have kids?" Johnny asked.

"I don't know, maybe in my thirties." Tyler answered.

Raylan walked into the living room with Casey giggling in his arms. "Guys, we have to start getting down to business. I called you all here because we have to make morphers for what I believe to be a new set of Power Rangers. Ryleigh has already started observing kids who fit the role."

"So, where do I come in?" Johnny asked.

Raylan scratched his head. "Well, I never found a place for you in the plan, but I'll find one."

Johnny puckered his lip out. "Aww, that sucks. Oh well, less work for me!" he chuckled.

"So, what do I have to do?" Tyler asked.

"I'm going to need your help engineering them. Come on, let's go upstairs where I have the pieces."

"How are we going to get them to the kids?"

"There's going to be a small concert at the Java House, the local coffee spot. I think that's a prime location to find able-minded teenagers."

"All right, I say we do that." Tyler agreed.


	8. Java House

**==Underground Temple, Saudi Arabia==**

The beast flew high in the sky, raging about the lost Color Capsules. The Color Capsules held magical powers that were to be granted to high ranking minions, and now they were gone.

The United States Secret Operatives blocked the zone from being recorded by the media, effectively keeping everything in the area a high-profile secret. If word of this were to get out, the world would be in chaos.

What the Secret Ops didn't know was that the Color Capsules contained the energy to create a new set of Power Rangers; such was the task that General Fuller entrusted Raylan with.

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Raylan rushed up to the master bedroom with Tyler and Johnny. Raylan kept the ten Color Capsules in his nightstand.

"So, where are these morphers?" Tyler asked, looking around the room.

Raylan bent over and opened his nightstand drawer. "They're in here." he said, handing Tyler the five colored pieces.

"Red, blue, green, yellow, and pink..." Tyler mumbled. "This is incredible."

"There are five other grey ones; I don't know what they can do, yet."

"I think we can only use them when the time is right. Let's just stick to these five for the time being."

"Do you think you can do something with them?" Raylan asked.

"Yeah, I can work on them with Gadget-X. I stowed him away in one of my suitcases, let me go get him." Tyler said, rushing out of the room to get his bags.

Johnny picked up the green piece. "Wow, I'm holding the morpher to my successor." Johnny said, rubbing it.

Raylan held up the red one. "Shane would be proud..." he murmured.

Tyler ran back into the room with Gadget-X. The robot needed some time to get used to its surroundings.

"Wow, I haven't seen the little guy in forever!" Johnny exclaimed, giving his robot companion a hug.

"Johnny King, is that you?" Gadget-X asked in its robotic voice.

"Yeah, it's me." Johnny responded.

"So, why is my assistance required?" the robot asked.

Raylan walked over to it. "Well, I think I found new morphers. Is there any way you can get the pieces into watches for a new set of Rangers to use?" Raylan asked, bunching up the five colored pieces over to the robot.

"Oh, easy! I should have it done in less than an hour!" Gadget-X said, getting straight to work.

"Sweet!" Raylan exclaimed. "All right, guys, let's go to Johnny's house. The school day is probably over and he needs to see Ryleigh and Alissa."

Tyler and Johnny nodded. Raylan went downstairs to get Casey ready and when he was done, the four of them left the house. Raylan left a note behind for Emma to let her know where they were headed.

* * *

Ryleigh just picked up Alissa from the day-care and was upset by the fact that she still had to do her diaper. She carried Alissa off to the bathroom to get a fresh, new diaper to put on.

Unlike Casey, Alissa was great at walking. She only started walking two weeks ago and she was already getting the hang of it. Casey, on the other hand, could only walk short distances without falling and had to crawl to get around.

When Ryleigh came downstairs, she heard the doorbell ring. She rushed over and opened it, surprised to see Johnny, Raylan, and Tyler.

"Whoa! What bring you all here?" she exclaimed, half in shock. She went in to give Johnny and kiss on the cheek.

"Hey, baby, I missed you guys!" Johnny said, taking Alissa out of his wife's arms.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you're here!" she responded.

Tyler was more down to business. "I hear you've got a list of who our potential Rangers could be." he said.

"Yeah, I do. Why don't you guy come on in?" she offered.

She led the guys inside the house and on the sofa. Raylan and Johnny put their daughters down to let them play with each other and the toys nearby.

"So, who's on this list?" Raylan asked.

"Well, since I'm a new teacher at the school, I'm not exactly sure about the characteristics of these kids." Ryleigh responded, watching the babies play.

"What do you know?"

"Well, there's a boy named Chase and his best friend named Kenzie. They share a close bond and work really well together. Then, there's a British girl named Allison; well, she goes by Alli. She doesn't get along with Chase, well, but we can fix that. There's an aspiring singer named Nick who's charismatic and creative. Finally, there's a pretty built-up kid named Jake who looks like he could take a few hits."

"Wow, so you got five already?" Raylan asked, dumbfounded.

"Yup. In fact, I teach them all. They're not all in the same class, but like I said, they're already somewhat familiar with each other."

"There's only one problem...I don't know where to group them all together." Ryleigh said, scratching her head.

"No problem, there's a local concert at the Java House today and lots of kids from the school will be there." Raylan answered, smiling.

Ryleigh sighed. "Oh, well that's a relief. We'll go get them there."

"Well, it won't be that easy. First, we have to get them by themselves and _then _we can tell them about their powers."

Ryleigh groaned. "It was so much easier for us to get our powers."

"That's because we were the ones getting the lecture; we're on the other end of that, now."

"Yeah, I guess..."

Raylan's phone vibrated. When he pulled it out, he saw a text from his wife. "_hey you guys need to come over and gadgetx is done with whatever he was doing_" it read. He smiled and put it back in his pocket.

"Who was that?" Johnny asked.

"It's Emma and she's saying that we need to get to my house. Gadget-X is done with the morphers and we have to get to the Java House." Raylan said.

* * *

Chase was washing off a glass when he heard the sound of someone sitting down on a chair. He worked at the 'bar' at the Java House and was supposed to serve whoever sat on the barstools. When he looked up, he saw Alli Matthews.

She frowned. "You look like an idiot with that red apron on." she said.

Chase looked down at his apron. It was standard uniform for all Java House employees. "I'm sorry I have more work experience than you." he dissed.

She narrowed her eyes. "Hey, do your damn job and get me an espresso." she sneered.

He shook his head and made the drink as fast as he could. "Here you go, _enjoy_." he hissed, emphasizing the last word.

She sipped her coffee through the straw. "It's disgusting, I want another."

Chase shook his head. "I don't think we can do that unless you pay..."

"No, I demand another one!" she shouted. Luckily, the sound of the heavy bass in the background droned out her voice.

Chase groaned and started to make another espresso. "I usuallly don't do this for people..." he grumbled, giving her the new drink.

She sipped it again and stuck her tongue out. "Blegh, too bitter!" she complained. "Isn't there anybody else here that can make a coffee?" she asked, looking around.

Chase had enough. "Listen, Alli, you're a beautiful girl and I get that, but your looks can't get you everything you want. I hear from people that you genuinely are a nice girl, but I don't see why you're such a bitch to me." he said, getting up close.

She backed off. "Maybe if you weren't such an asshole."

"That's the problem! What have I ever done to you? I've never even said anything to you before you came up to me that day!"

She shook her head. "I'll just take my matters elsewhere." she said, walking off. She was still sipping her drink.

Jake Fernandez took the seat she was sitting on. "Dude, what did you do?" he asked.

"Umm...who are you?" Chase asked.

"I'm Jake, but you really upset her."

"No, she upset me. She literally walked over to me and started bitching me out on how bad I was at making coffee."

"Really? The past few times I came here, you made me an amazing frap."

"Well, that's not where it started. I guess she just doesn't like me. Oh, well..." he groaned, wiping off the tables.

Nick's voice echoed through the microphone. "Who's ready for some good music?" he asked. The entire club cheered.

"Are you here for this concert?" Chase asked Jake.

"Yeah, I'm here. My girlfriend is the guitarist."

"Shayla Lane?"

"Yeah, her."

"Wow, good job. She's pretty."

Jake blushed. "Yeah, she's beautiful. I'm proud of her."

"I'm not a huge fan of this type of rock, but I don't mind listening for the sake of kids in our school. We've seen some terrible performances here, I hope this one is at least decent."

"Don't worry, it will be; I promise."

Chase smiled and got back to wiping the table. Kenzie spotted him and took a seat by the bar.

"Hey, Kenzie. Let me guess, a chocolate mocha frap?" he asked.

She laughed. "No, I just wanted to talk to you. I'm guessing that you won't have much work what with all the music going on, so you could talk without getting fired." she smiled.

Alli walked back over to the bar and took a seat. "Can I have an espresso?" she groaned.

Chase smirked. "I thought you said my coffee was disgusting."

She stuck her tongue out. "It is disgusting; the espresso isn't for me, it's for a friend."

"What friend?" Chase laughed.

Alli shook her head. "Just give me the damn espresso." she snapped.

When Chase gave her the drink, she discreetly tried to sip it. Chase immediately saw her and gasped. "So you lied! The espresso _is _for you!" he laughed. "I win!"

She growled flailed her arms. "Okay, who cares? So you're a good barista, big shit!"

"I'll take that as a one-up on you."

"I'll take that as a 'don't care'!" she turned away.

Chase smirked. "So it looks like the smart-ass Alli Matthews was wrong about me."

"I wasn't wrong about anything! Sure, you're not a bad barista, but you're still an asshole."

"No, I'm not an asshole. Just admit that you're wrong and get on with it." he laughed. He knew he was winning.

She shook her head and sipped her coffee. "Whatever..." she groaned.

Kenzie and Jake watched what unfolded before them and couldn't help but laugh. Jake nudged Kenzie. "I think they may have a little something-something for each other, don't you know?" he chuckled.

Kenzie nudged him back. "I second that." Kenzie watched as Alli played with her platinum-blonde hair. "You know, when girls play with their hair, it's a sign of attraction." she whispered to Jake.

Alli heard it and interjected. "That is so not true! I can't believe you would think we like each other!" she shouted.

Chase's eyes popped out. "Who said we liked each other?" he exclaimed. He looked over at Alli, equally as shocked. "That's nasty!"

Alli shook her head. "I would rather be skinned alive that spend one day with Chase!"

"I would rather have my insides eaten out than spend on day with Alli!"

Kenzie and Jake raised their eyebrows at each other. "Whatever..." they both said, turning to face the concert.

Raylan, Emma, Johnny, Ryleigh, and Tyler all entered the Java House. Emma was holding Casey and Ryleigh was holding Alissa.

"Do you see the kids you were talking about?" Tyler asked, looking around.

Ryleigh looked around for some time. "Nick is onstage while the other four are at the bar, together."

Raylan looked over to the bar. "All right, here's the plan: we wait for the concert to end and then we get them isolated. Who brought the morphers?" he asked.

Tyler held up a bag. When they went back to the Westbrook house, Gadget-X had completed the morphers. They looked very similar to the Energy Combat morphers.

The Rangers looked at each other and nodded. It was time.


	9. Rangers of Palisade

_Sorry about the long delay before this chapter. I wasn't really sure how to write it and I had to scrap multiple ideas for it, but I still managed to get a decent result. Anyways, on with the chapter!_

_Be warned, this chapter is **long and boring, **but is important to read thoroughly for future reference._

_And as always, a **review** would be very helpful._

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

The concert by Nick's band was phenomenal. In fact, Johnny, who didn't even have a taste for that kind of music, thought it was brilliant. Fortunately, since it was only a classic rock concert and not one of Johnny's heavy metal gigs, the babies didn't need ear muffs. When the concert was over and the Java House started to empty, the Rangers talked about how they would recruit the five teenagers.

Raylan had the best idea. "All right, I'll go in and get them all. We can't have them knowing who we _all _are and I'm willing to be the one known by them."

The other four nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good. We'll stay back and take it low." Johnny replied.

Raylan nodded and walked over to the bar where four teenagers were sitting and one was working. He recognized the one that was working as Chase, the one Ryleigh pointed out that should fill the Red Ranger's role. Three of the teenagers sitting at the bar were also selected by Ryleigh to be Rangers. The fouth kid at the bar, however, was just some random kid.

Raylan walked over to the bar and pointed to them. "I'm going to need to four of you for a few minutes." he commanded.

The random kid noticed that Raylan wasn't looking at him. "What about me?" he asked.

"I don't need you." Raylan replied.

Chase narrowed his eyes. "Who are you to tell us what to do?" he asked.

Raylan flashed his FBI badge. "The Federal Bureau of Intelligence can tell you what to do." he said, affirmatively. One of the major perks of being a United States Secret Operative meant that Raylan could carry around badges of different governmental agencies to get his position across.

The random kid opened his mouth again. "What about me?" he asked, again.

Raylan put his FBI badge in the kid's face. "If you don't get the hell out, _ I will _arrest you." he warned. The kid scurried off. Raylan motioned for the four kids to get up. "I'm giong to need all four of you and the Nick kid when he's done." he said.

Chase pointed Nick out walking with Shayla. "That's Nick over there."

Raylan turned around and spotted Nick. "Nick, I need you to come over here!" he shouted.

Nick walked over with Shayla. "What's going on?" he asked, seeing the serious faces on everyone at the bar.

Raylan looked at Shayla. "I don't need her here."

Shayla was confused. "Why?" she asked.

Raylan flashed his FBI badge, again. "That's why. Now, I'm going to need the five of you to come with me: Chase, Jacob, Nicholas, McKenzie, and Allison." he said, leading the five teens out of the Java House. Shayla still appeared confused and left in the opposite direction.

The other four Energy Combat Rangers watched Raylan lead the teenagers out of the Java House.

"This is so nerve-wracking." Tyler jittered.

* * *

Raylan took the teenagers to a random alley outside and looked around to see if anybody was watching. He looked at the five teenagers, who all had terrified faces.

"I am sorry to inform you all that starting this moment, your lives have changed forever. You will never be the same group of teenagers, ever again." he started off.

Jake raised his hand. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

Raylan thought for a moment. "Do you guys remember the Shadow incident in Smalltown, California? You were all around six to seven years old, but I'm sure you know what happened."

"Of course, we have a moment of silence for the lives lost every June 15th." Chase said, crossing his arms.

Coincidentally, June 15th was Raylan's birthday. He nodded. "Well, do you know who was responsible for saving the city?" he asked.

Nick chuckled. "No duh, the Power Rangers!" he exclaimed.

Raylan gestured for him to keep it down. "Listen, you guys have to keep this quiet."

"Sorry." Nick apologized.

"Anyways, I'm just going to be outward about it; I have the five of you here to become the next group of Power Rangers." Raylan said.

There was a long moment of silence from the teenagers. Alli talked first. "You're lying." she pierced.

Raylan chuckled. "I'm sorry, blondie, but I'm not lying. You saw my badge."

Alli was still not convinced. "Prove it." she said, crossing her arms the way Chase crossed his.

Raylan pointed to the watch on his wrist. "This is my morpher. I was one of the Power Rangers of Smalltown and I'll morph right now if you want me to." Raylan said.

Nick widened his eyes. "You were a Power Ranger!? This is amazing!" he exclaimed. "I've always been fans of you guys!"

Even after all that, Alli wasn't yet convinced. "Morph, I _dare _you." she challenged.

Raylan shook his head and pushed in his morpher. "It's morphin' time! Dragon!" he shouted, morphing into the Fire Dragon Ranger.

All of the teenagers gasped. Alli facepalmed. "I'm such an idiot..." she muttered.

Chase took this opportunity to one-up her. "I'll take that as a confession." he laughed. She punched him on the arm.

Raylan then unmorphed. "So, raise your hand if you think I'm lying." he said. None of the teenagers raised their hands. "Good, now I want the five of you to take these morphers." Raylan said, pulling five colored watches out of his small bag.

Raylan handed Alli the pink one. "Allison Matthews, I want you to fill the role of the Pink Ranger." he said. The British girl took the morpher and nodded.

Raylan handed Kenzie the yellow one. "McKenzie Taylor, I want you to fill the role of the Yellow Ranger." he said. The brunette took the morpher and nodded.

Raylan handed Jake the green one. "Jacob Fernandez, I want you to fill the role of the Green Ranger." he said. The hispanic boy took the morpher and nodded.

Raylan handed Nick the blue one. "Nicholas Carlisle, I want you to fill the role of the Blue Ranger." he said. The singer took the morpher and nodded.

Finally, Raylan handed Chase the red one. "Last but most definitely not least; Chase Daley, I want you to fill the role of the Red Ranger and lead the team into battle." he said. The leader of the team took the morpher and nodded.

Alli groaned. "Why does he get to be the leader?" she asked. Raylan glared at her, shutting her up.

Raylan looked at his new team. "These morphers are to be placed on your right wrist. You can communicate with each other through these morphers. You can also communicate with me. The morpher can be activated by pushing the clock inwards and and swinging your right arm across your body. Then, you shout 'It's morphin' time'. Got it?" he asked.

The teenagers nodded. Jake raised his hand. "Are we supposed to tell anyone that we're Power Rangers?" he asked.

Raylan could tell that the boy was still dumbfounded by the huge weight placed on his chest. "No, these powers are to be kept secret." he said. "Understood?"

The Rangers nodded. Chase, the leader of the team, had a question. "Does anybody else on this planet other than you know that we're Power Rangers?" he asked.

Raylan nodded. "Yes, pretty much the entire Smalltown team knows your identitites. Also, I will be informing the U.S. government on our choices of teenagers very soon." he said.

"So, can you fill us in on what we're supposed to do?" Kenzie asked.

Raylan shrugged his shoulders. "As of right now, there is no mission. However, there are things going on in a certain part of the world that are heavily suggesting that your next mission will start very soon."

"Like what?"

"Well, as of now, that information and the methods for retrieving these powers are disclosed."

"So what do these morphers give us the powers to do?"

Raylan chuckled. "McKenzie, you ask quite a lot of questions."

"Just call me Kenzie." she smiled.

"Anyways, I am unsure of what powers these morphers have. They were only discovered a few days ago and we are still trying to find out what they are capable of. My advice to all of you is that you keep these powers under control and try not to do anything funny with them."

"Final question: Is there anything else you have to tell us about these powers?"

"No, there is nothing else. I would have told you more, but the problem is that either the information would be disclosed or unknown. As of now, I have filled you in on everything you are able to know about these morphers. Now, put them to good use. I think we're done talking, here."

The Rangers slowly nodded and walked away in seperate directions. Raylan could tell they were distraught and still very confused. The problem was, however, that Raylan was as confused as them. He pulled out his phone and dialed General Fuller's number.

"Brent Fuller." the general answered.

"This is Raylan Westbrook." Raylan replied.

"Ah! Operative Westbrook! Have you found anything about those pieces, yet?" he asked.

Raylan nodded. "Yes, they are morphers to a new set of Power Rangers."

There was silence on the other end of the line. "What?" the general asked, after a while.

"That's the same reaction I got from them. Anyways, I have put the morphers in the right hands and there is pretty much nothing to worry about. In fact, there is nothing you _can _worry about."

"Um...we have to go through this mess, again? I understand that you were one of the Power Rangers in Smalltown, is that why you carried out the role of the information-provider?" The general asked. He knew Raylan and his wife were Power Rangers. It was required of Raylan to tell him as part of the training program and required honesty for the Secret Ops.

"Unfortunately, we do have to go through this mess again; and yes, that _is _why I carried out the role of the information-provider. Anyways, is there any news on those lights above that Arabian temple?"

"It seems to have died down. We will let you know when it resurfaces."

Raylan nodded. "Well, that's all I have to fill you in on. Goodbye." he said.

"Goodbye, operative." the general dismissed, hanging up the phone.

Raylan sighed and walked into the Java House to talk to the rest of the Rangers.

* * *

Johnny saw Raylan walk into the Java House and called him over to their table. "So, what happened?" they asked.

Raylan chuckled. "Well, I got them all together. They were really distraught, but they all accepted the offer."

"What if they didn't accept it?" Emma asked.

Raylan held up his FBI badge. "The FBI would have eliminated them." he joked.

Tyler gasped. "How did you get an FBI badge?" he asked. Johnny and Ryleigh were equally as surprised.

"Umm...how else does one get a badge?" Raylan chuckled.

"You work for the government!?" Tyler exclaimed.

Raylan and Emma nodded. "Well, I wasn't going to tell you guys this, but I think it needs to be known to just our team of Rangers. I am a member of the United States Secret Operatives. That is also how I was able to get these morphers."

It took a while for Johnny, Ryleigh, and Tyler to digest what they had been told. "Wow, so you're required to be the ringleader for these new Rangers?" Tyler asked.

Raylan nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Well, do _they _know that you're part of the Secret Ops?" Tyler asked.

"No, they just think I'm a member of the FBI. I am required to keep them in the dark, a bit, but they'll know everything, soon."

Emma smelled something funny and got up. "I'm sorry to crash on this party, but Casey pooped her pants. I think she's getting tired and it's time to go home." she said, yawning.

"Well, that was sudden." Raylan laughed. "Anyways, it was getting late. I'll see you guys tomorrow!" he exclaimed as the team of Rangers got up to go home.

* * *

When Alli got home, she ran to the bathroom to throw up. What the hell would happen to her life? She knew it was realy, but had a hard time believing it.

* * *

When Kenzie got home, she jumped into bed to see if it was all a dream or if it was, in fact, reality. She wasn't sure what to make of what had just happened.

* * *

When Jake got home, he couldn't hold his excitement. It was an awesome job and he was lucky to have it.

* * *

When Nick got home, he got ready for bed. He wasn't really opinionated towards his role, but he knew he had to accept it.

* * *

When Chase got home, he played it all off. When his family noticed the red watch on his arm, he told them that Kenzie bought it for him as a friendship gift.

* * *

When Raylan got home, he got a call from the general.


	10. Exo

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Raylan picked up the phone call from General Fuller. "Hello, general." he answered

"Remember how you told me about the new Power Rangers?" he asked in a concerned voice

"Well, yes...of course. Why?"

"The lights that were circulating around the temple dispersed in different directions. We have no idea what happened and the media just got their hands on some crucial information."

"Like what!?"

"They're reporting that 'mysterious lights' have been reportedly flying throughout the world. One such light flew to Palisade."

"Whoa...huh?"

"That's right, Palisade, the place you live. Please tell me that you'll keep a watch on the city and the Rangers."

"I will, general."

"All right, Raylan. Oh, and by the way, turn on the news."

"Yes, general." Raylan said, hanging up the phone.

He turned on the TV to CNN and saw the horrifying news. Palisade was about to be under attack.

He shook Emma to wake her up. "What's going on?" she groaned. "It's midnight, what could you possibly want from me?"

"The city's under attack!" he shouted.

Emma instantly propped herself up and looked at the TV. Sure enough, he was telling the truth. "What do we do?" she asked.

"You stay here and watch Casey. I'll get down there with our new team of Rangers and fight off whatever this is."

Emma nodded. "Go out there, honey. I love you." she smiled.

He turned around and looked back at her. "I love you, too."

* * *

Chase was sound asleep until his morpher warmed up. He got up and scratched his head. "Why the hell is my morpher getting hot?" he groaned. He tried to go back to sleep.

Suddenly, there was a voice on the other end. "Chase! Get up this instant!" it shouted. He could recognize it as Raylan's voice.

Chase put his mouth to the morpher in order to talk back. "What do you want?" he replied, sounding groggy from his sleep. He still wasn't sure what was real and what wasn't.

"The city is under attack, Chase! We need you!" Raylan commanded.

Without thinking, Chase hopped out of bed. "Shit! But, how do I get out of my house without my parents knowing?"

"Don't worry about that." Raylan said.

"What do you mean?"

In an instant, Chase was whizzed away in a flurry of red light.

* * *

Chase found himself in the city center. It took him a few seconds to get used to his surroundings and he soon found that Raylan in addition to the other Rangers were all together.

"Whoa...what happened?" he asked.

A robotic voice from his morpher responded. "I did." it said.

"Who was that?" Chase replied.

"That was courtesy of Gadget-X." Raylan answered. "He's a robotic companion that stays over at my place; he does most of the tech stuff with your powers."

"So, why are we here?" Alli asked.

"We believe the city may suffer an attack very soon. There are mysterious lights taking residence in the area." Raylan replied.

"But that doesn't mean anything." she said.

"We can't tell you what it means, but it is a sign of a strong monster presence."

Suddenly, there was a loud thud nearby. One of the lights had crashed to the ground and let out thousands of tiny sparkles into the sky.

"What is that?" Kenzie asked.

"Stand back!" Raylan commanded. When he saw that the Rangers weren't listening, he shouted again. "I said stand back!" he screamed. "If this becomes a threat, then you will morph! Understand?" he asked. The Rangers nodded fearfully.

From the glowing orb on the ground emerged a hulking beast. It was a humanoid reptilian about one-and-a-half times the size of Raylan and was red. It was the beast who slept for centuries in the temple.

"What do you want?" Raylan asked, affirmatively.

The beast roared. "You! I found you!" it hissed.

"Out with it."

"You have taken my Color Capsules?"

"What the hell are those?"

"The treasure you stole from my temple."

"The more important part is how the hell you even exist."

The beast spat at Raylan. "You dare defy the great Exo?" it asked, getting in Raylan's face.

"Listen, Exo, I don't know what you could possibly want with us."

Exo pushed Raylan back. "Give me the Color Capsules, human!" it roared.

Raylan turend to the new group of teenagers who all appeared terrified. "Guys, it's time to morph."

Alli shook her head. "I can't do it...I can't do it...I can't do it..." she jittered.

"Morph, goddamn it!" Raylan screamed.

Without thinking, the teenagers pulled the morphers out on command of Chase.

"Shout 'It's morphin time'!" Raylan commanded.

The teenagers nodded and held their morphers in front of them.

"It's morphin' time!"

* * *

Alli is in a black room with a glowing pink pedestal in front of her. There is a pink orb the size of a human fist resting on top of the pedestal. The only light the room receives is emanating directy from the orb and the pedestal. She places her right hand on the orb and bright pink energy starts to solidify around her, creating her Ranger suit. She picks up the orb and lets it disintegrate around her head, forming her helmet. Her visor slides on. She can see the faint silhouette of a Serpopard in the distance. There is an engraving of a Serpopard on her helmet. She shouts "Pink Serpopard Ranger!"

* * *

Kenzie is in a black room with a glowing yellow pedestal in front of her. There is a yellow orb the size of a human fist resting on top of the pedestal. The only light the room receives is emanating directy from the orb and the pedestal. She places her right hand on the orb and bright yellow energy starts to solidify around her, creating her Ranger suit. She picks up the orb and lets it disintegrate around her head, forming her helmet. Her visor slides on. She can see the faint silhouette of a Sphinx in the distance. There is an engraving of a Sphinx on her helmet. She shouts "Yellow Sphinx Ranger!"

* * *

Jake is in a black room with a glowing green pedestal in front of him. There is a green orb the size of a human fist resting on top of the pedestal. The only light the room receives is emanating directy from the orb and the pedestal. He places his right hand on the orb and bright green energy starts to solidify around him, creating his Ranger suit. He picks up the orb and lets it disintegrate around his head, forming his helmet. His visor slides on. He can see the faint silhouette of a Griffin in the distance. There is an engraving of a Griffin on his helmet. He shouts "Green Griffin Ranger!"

* * *

Nick is in a black room with a glowing blue pedestal in front of him. There is a blue orb the size of a human fist resting on top of the pedestal. The only light the room receives is emanating directy from the orb and the pedestal. He places his right hand on the orb and bright blue energy starts to solidify around him, creating his Ranger suit. He picks up the orb and lets it disintegrate around his head, forming his helmet. His visor slides on. He can see the faint silhouette of a Uraeus in the distance. There is an engraving of a Uraeus on his helmet. He shouts "Blue Uraeus Ranger!"

* * *

Chase is in a black room with a glowing red pedestal in front of him. There is a red orb the size of a human fist resting on top of the pedestal. The only light the room receives is emanating directy from the orb and the pedestal. He places his right hand on the orb and bright red energy starts to solidify around him, creating his Ranger suit. He picks up the orb and lets it disintegrate around his head, forming his helmet. His visor slides on. He can see the faint silhouette of Horus in the distance. There is an engraving of Horus, the god of the sun, on his helmet. He shouts "Red Horus Ranger!"

* * *

The Rangers stood morphed in their suits, trying to get a feel of what just happened. Raylan stood quite far behind them and observed their mannerisms. He was sure that these were the right teenagers.

"Whoa...is this real life?" Chase asked.

"I feel like I'm dreaming...there is no way that this is possible." Kenzie said.

Exo shot a fireball out of his mouth straight at Kenzie, sending her flying backwards. "You pathetic human beings have tainted the capsules!" it roared. "Now, I will make you all pay!"

"What are you talking about?" Chase asked, watching Kenzie struggle to get up.

"These powers are not to be used by humans! We created them for the use of the serpents!"

"Well, we're not going to let them get into your hands!"

Exo prepared a fireball from his hands. "Now you will feel the wrath of Osiris, God of Death!" he shouted, hurling a massive fireball at Chase. Nick jumped in the way and took the hit.

"Nick! Why would you do that!?" Chase shouted.

Nick got up and shrugged the pain off. "It wasn't really that bad; I'm guessing that these suits can take most of the damage." he replied.

"Really?" Chase asked. "That's amazing..." he said, looking over to Exo. "Looks like we have the protection...what are you going to do?" he challenged.

Exo shook his head. "Fortunately for you, my powers at at their minimal level." Exo started to hover in the air. "Once I have fully regained my powers, I will be back!" he shouted, flying away in the distance.

Raylan regrouped with the rest of the Rangers. "It looks like we have some taste of what's about to come." he said.

"How do we get out of these things?" Alli asked, knocking on her helmet.

Raylan had to think for a minute. The entire time he was a Power Ranger, he never really did anything to unmorph. It usually just happened when he was done with his powers.

"Umm...I guess you just have to think really hard." he answered, scratching his head.

A small time went by until the Rangers were finally able to unmorph. "Phew, that was weird." Chase said.

Raylan chuckled. "Tell me about it. Anyways, it's not something that you won't get used to. Believe me, I was in a trance when I found out that I would become a Power Ranger."

Alli crossed her arms. "Can we get a new leader? I hate working with Chase." she snapped.

Raylan glared at her. "No, we can't." he said, affirmatively.

Chase laughed and stuck his tongue out at her. "It looks like I'm far above you." he joked. She shook her head and also stuck her tongue out at him.

"What exactly did we do?" Alli asked.

"You did absolutely nothing other than get used to your suit. At least you know how to stretch around in it and unmorph out of it."

"So when do we start fighting?"

"As of right now, I don't know. I pretty much just saw you guys stand and watch in your suits. The most action was when Kenzie and Nick got blasted, but it didn't look that painful."

Kenzie chuckled. "You got that right."

"So what powers does it look like we have?" Jake asked.

Raylan thought for a minute. "It seemed to me like you had the powers of Egyptian bests."

"Cool, but what do they do?"

"For now, I can't tell. I can only tell when these monsters grow into skyscraper height."

The teens gasped. "What do you mean?" Alli asked.

"I can't really explain to you what that means. I guess in time you'll find out."

"Wait, but there's so much more we need to know!"

"I understand your concerns, but I only know as much as you do." Raylan said, looking at the team. "Anyways, it's past midnight and you should all get home. I'll have Gadget-X teleport you guys back. Just take a breather until there's another 'attack' on the city." Raylan said, walking away.

"Wait, but-" Alli was cut off as the team teleported back to their houses.


	11. Overseas Trips

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Chase was suddenly sent to his bed by Gadget-X's teleportation abilities. "What the hell happened?" he groaned.

His phone vibrated on his nightstand, startling him. When he picked it up, he saw a text message from Kenzie. "_hey check the news_" it said.

Chase pulled his remote control out of his nightstand and turned on the TV in his room. The headline read: _Mysterious confrontation between alien species and Power Rangers - Smalltown tragedy hits Palisade._

While it wasn't in the moment, Chase had to chuckle. What had happened was hardly a tragedy and he was glorified to see himself in his Ranger suit on the news. Luckily, the media only got there after the Rangers had morphed.

It was still around midnight and his family was fast asleep. They would see the news next morning and have discussions about it, but Chase would have to play it off and put on an act which proclaimed his innocence and uninvolvement with the monsters.

Everything still seemed highly surreal to him. He couldn't believe that he was about to be put on the front lines of the war against this new menace and that he was the leader of this elite group of teenagers. The fate of the world lay in their hands, and he was the one responsible for any blemishes or mistakes that could possibly occur as a result of the Rangers' actions.

* * *

**==Secret Ops, U.S.S. Columbia, Atlantic Ocean==**

There was a small celebration aboard the U.S.S. Columbia over what Raylan was able to accomplish. Due to his 'heroic efforts', he was able to gather a new group of Rangers to fight off the terror of the monsters.

General Fuller entered the Situation Room on board to see the status of the lights and what was next.

He walked over to the operative using the main computer screen. "Any updates?" he asked, placing his hand on the operative's shoulder.

"Yes, there is a major update." the operative answered, turning around.

"Well, what is it?"

"From what we have observed, these lights have taken residence in former Soviet Union states and satellites. We have had reports of large lights flying over the major capitals of those nations."

"What nations?"

"Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Moldova."

"So I would imagine that these lights are in the capital cities of Moscow, Kiev, Vilnius, Astana, Tashkent, and Chisinau, respectively."

"That would be correct." the operative confirmed.

"But, why are they in former Soviet Union states?" the general asked.

"That is what we're trying to find out."

"Do these lights even mean anything?"

"Well, it is highly evident that these lights are fluorescent entities of Egyptian creatures."

"Then why where they in Saudi Arabia?"

"We have no idea..."

"I have an idea plannet out." the general said.

"What is that, general?"

General Fuller thought for a minute. "I'm going to call up Operative Westbrook, there's some detective work I'm going to have to get him to do." he said.

"What kind of detective work?"

"One of the Rangers is Allison Matthews. Her father is a British-American FBI agent in the North Carolina area. We were supposed to proceed with a mission where we send an agent to some of thsoe countries, and I say we send him. That way, we can get both Raylan and a few of the Power Rangers down there."

"That is a brilliant idea, general."

The general smiled, nodded, and walked out of the Situation Room.

* * *

Raylan teleported home to a crying Casey and concerned Emma. "What's going on?" he asked.

Emma ran up to her husband holding their daughter. "You came home just in time; Casey dropped a huge one in her diapers and it's your turn."

Raylan groaned and took his daughter from Emma's arms. "Wow, I couldn't have come at a better time. Oh well, I guess everything happens for a reason..." he said, carrying Casey into the bathroom.

"So...how did it go?" Emma asked.

"I think it went well." Raylan answered, working on Casey's diaper. "The Rangers didn't really do anything, but we were definitely able to clear up some of the confusion regarding their powers."

"Oh, well that's good. At least they weren't as confused as we were."

Raylan chuckled and thought back to the day he was teleported to the hideout. "Yeah, we had no idea what the hell happened." he said, finishing up Casey's diaper.

"I still don't get what happened." Emma smiled.

Suddenly, Raylan's cell phone rang. When he looked at the caller ID, he saw that it was the general. "I'll take this one." he said urgently, handing Casey over to Emma.

"Raylan, this is the general." the general said on the other end.

"Yes, general, what is the matter?" Raylan asked.

"Well, some of our operatives have found out that lights have flown into former Soviet states: Russia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Moldova. We don't know why, but we need you to get down there. We will need you back on board the ship on Monday."

Raylan nodded. "Yes, general."

"Oh, by the way, Allison Matthews's father works for the FBI. We have contacted him regarding a mission that requires him to tour those nations. We have also 'awarded' two of the Rangers, Allison and Chase, with certificated allowing them to visit those nations for 'special tours' on the weekends."

"How did you manage to do that?"

"We sent it through the school. We're the United States Secret Ops, we do what we want." the general laughed. "Anyways, good day, I will talk to you later." he said, hanging up the phone.

"What was that about?" Emma asked.

"I'm going to have to go back to the ship on Monday." Raylan answered.

Emma groaned. "Wow, just when I thought I was getting a break."

"I'm sorry, baby, but it's something I have to do."

"I understand. I hope you know that I'll always be by your side, supporting you."

Raylan smiled and kissed her forehead. "I know." he said.

* * *

Alli woke up at about eight in the morning and slothed her way down the stairs in her pyjamas. She walked past her parents and picked up the mug of hot chocolate that they usually made for her using the coffee machine.

"Morning, Alli." her father said, reading the newspaper.

"Morning, daddy." she groaned.

"Why are you so tired?" her mom asked, sipping a mug of coffee.

"I just had bad dreams..." she said, blowing her hot chocolate.

Her father put the newspaper down. "Alli, there's two huge pieces of news we have to tell you." he said, taking a bite out of a muffin.

"What is it?"

"Did you know that there was a monster attack down at the city?"

Alli knew very well that there was a monster attack, but she had to play it off. "What!? Where!?" she asked, trying to act nervous.

"It was downtown. The Power Rangers are back." he smiled. "Isn't it exciting?"

Alli's mom groaned. "Exciting, but also dangerous."

Alli chuckled. "Tell me about it. Anyways, what was the next piece of news you had for me?"

Alli's father smiled and looked at his wife. "About an hour ago, I got a call from the FBI headquarters down at DC. They me to go on one of my 'FBI' trips over to European and Asian countries."

"That's cool."

"You play a part in this, too, though."

"How so?"

"Well, the school district superintendant called about a half-hour ago and said you were awarded with an overseas trip to some of the countries I'm visiting. Basically, you leave every Friday evening afterschool for the next few weeks to a country and come back the next Monday morning."

"Oh, cool, what nations?"

"I remember hearing Russia and Ukraine. There were a couple of '-stans' in there, too, but I can't remember which ones."

"That sounds hard, but exciting!" Alli smiled, sipping her hot chocolate.

"But wait, there's more. Another student got this award, too."

"Who?" Alli asked, putting her hot drink down.

"His name was Case or Jayce or something; Last name was Vereen."

Alli spat whatever hot chocolate was left in her mouth out. "Chase!?"

"Yeah! That's the name!"

Alli shook her head. "This is a nightmare!" she exclaimed.

* * *

Nick woke up and walked downstairs to hear a loud commotion going on downstairs. All three of his siblings and his parents were at the breakfast table talking about the breaking news regarding the Power Rangers.

"I'm telling you, we have to move out of here." his father suggested.

Ariana didn't share the same views. "No! Remember the first Power Rangers? They got the job done in California!" she shouted.

Her mother shook her head. "That's only because that ghost thingy stepped in at the last minute."

Nick couldn't help but chuckle as he took his seat at the table. He took a breakfast muffin from the large platter in the center and started nibbling on it.

"Nick, did you hear the news?" his father asked.

"What news?"

"There was a monster confrontation last night. There were new Power Rangers on the scene to take care of the problem."

"Really? I actually think that's kind of cool." Nick smiled, finishing up his muffin.

"It's also dangerous. I say we move away until this problem is solved." his mom said, affirmatively.

"Now, I don't think that's such a good idea. Remember, the whole Smalltown thing only lasted a few months."

"Yes, but who can say how long this will last?" his mom argued.

"Trust me, mom, there are even things I can't tell you, but we _have _to stay here."

* * *

Jake's parents barged into his room to wake him up. Because he had a tendency to sleep in, his parents said that if he didn't wake up by seven A.M. on weekends, then they would forcibly wake him up.

His dad was angry. "Get up, son!" he yelled.

Jake propped himself up and groaned. "What's going on?" he asked, scratching his eyes.

"Did you know that monsters are coming back?" his mom asked.

Jake, like the rest of the Rangers, knew that the monsters were back. He was a Power Ranger, but he had to hide his identity.

"No way!" he replied to his parents.

"Well, now we're going to be more restrictive on you. No more leaving the house without telling us." his dad warned.

"Why?"

His mom crossed her arms. "Because we don't want you to get badly injured or even killed out in the city! Right now, things aren't stable. We want you to be safe and sound."

Jake shook his head and got out of bed. "Mom, just leave it. I'll be fine."

His dad grabbed his arm. "I don't trust that. We are going to need to know where you are twenty-four/seven. When you go somewhere, you text us, got it?"

Jake nodded and walked into the bathroom to get ready for the day.

* * *

Kenzie was woken up by her puppy running into her room and jumping on her bed. It was named Poofy and was a pure-bred maltese. Kenzie was responsible for the name because she thought it was something unique and obvious about the dog. She tried to never go anywhere without it.

"Hi, Poofy!" she exclaimed, petting her dog all over.

She could hear her mom yelling in the distance. "Poofy! Come back! You still didn't eat your food!" she shouted, running into Kenzie's room.

"Good morning, mom!" Kenzie said, cheerfully.

"Good morning, sweetie." her mom said.

"Don't worry, I'll get Poofy to eat." Kenzie said.

"Kenzie, there's something I need to talk to you about." her mom said, sitting on her bed.

"What is it?"

"There was a monster attack late last night and it's apparent that things won't be the same here."

Kenzie nodded slowly. She couldn't have anything to do with it. "So, what do we do?"

"As of now, we can't do anything. We don't want to move because of your father's job, but we want you to be safe."

"So, how do I do that?"

"Your father and I have talked about driving you to school ourselves to keep watch on you."

Kenzie made a face. "Aww, come on! I'll look like the biggest loser!"

"Right now, I'd rather have you alive than gone missing."

Kenzie crossed her arms and shook her head. "Fine...whatever..."

* * *

Chase's parents had weird working shifts. They worked Wednesday through Sunday and had Monday and Tuesday off, which gave Chase the entire household to himself on the weekends.

The phone by his bed rang. He sighed and picked it up. "Hello, Vereen residence." he answered.

It was an automated voicemail from the superintendant. "Hello, Chase Vereen." it started off. "You have been carefully selected by a group of people to go on an overseas trip to several nations including Russia over the coming weeks. You will leave Friday night and come home Monday morning. You have been paired up with Allison Matthews to be partners on this once in a lifetime excursion across the world. We hope you enjoy the offer." the voicemail ended.

Chase widened his eyes and fell back on his bed. He was stunned and wanted to bang his head against a wall.

_I have to live with Alli for the next few weekends of my life? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!_


	12. Moscow

_This one has my attempt to try and incorporate Russian. Please, if you can speak Russian, don't fry me over my errors._

_Anyways, on with the chapter!_

**==Secret Ops Base, U.S.S. Columbia, Atlantic Ocean==**

When Monday morning came, Raylan finally arrived at the large carrier ship housing the United States Secret Ops. He immediately went to the general's quarters. Once he reached the door, he knocked on it.

"Come in!" the general shouted from the other side.

Raylan opened the door and walked in. "General, I'm here." he said, taking a seat.

The general took off his glasses and placed it on his desk. "Oh, yes, operative. We have a special mission for you." he said.

"Yes, I'm aware, you called."

"Well, we want to send you off to Moscow, Russia tomorrow morning. We have scheduled for you to meed with Vladimir Putin, himself, and we want you to discuss this 'monster matter' with him. I think you can advise him the best."

"I will do it, general." Raylan nodded.

"You still remember how to speak Russian, right?" the general asked, chuckling. It was part of the training program to be fluent in at least ten languages and proficient in another twenty.

"Yeah, that was one of the ten I chose to study, remember?"

"Good, we'll schedule for you to rent out an F-22 to use in a few hours. Now go off and get some shut-eye until we call you down." the general smiled.

Raylan got up and walked to his room to get a good few hours of sleep. These short slumbers were generally required to keep a person focused over an extremely long period of time with no sleep, such as a top secret mission.

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

That morning at school, Chase went right away to meet Alli at her locker. He wanted to talk to her about this overseas trip and how they could be able to keep out of each other's ways.

He spotted her putting her books away.

"Hey, Alli, we need to talk." he said.

She groaned when she saw his face. "Make it quick." she hissed.

"How are we going to do this trip thing?" he asked.

"Well, my parents are chaperones since my dad 'coincidentally' needs to go to some of those countries. Anyways, I'll stick with him the whole time and you can just do whatever it is that assholes like you do."

Chase shook his head. "Whatever..." he said, walking away.

"Hold on!" she shouted.

He turned around and faced her. "What?" he asked.

"Well, the principal told me that ten other students from our school got selected for this program. Maybe we could switch partners or something..."

"Great idea!" he said, wakling away for sure this time.

He had to go talk to Kenzie about this. He hadn't told her about the overseas trip because he was too afraid of the reaction that he would get. Kenzie thought they liked each other and he was expecting some sort of 'immature' reaction from her.

He found her at her locker and tapped on her back. "Hey, Kenzie!" he smiled.

"Oh, hey, Chase!" she said, cheerfully. "What's up?"

"Well, I was awarded to go on an internation program by the school district. Unfortunately, I've been paired with Alli Matthews." he said, scratching his hair.

She giggled. "Oh, I guess that _sucks _for you." she said sarcastically. "But how are you going to visit other countries during the school year?"

"We leave each Friday night and come back each Monday morning for the next few weeks."

"Wow, so you go overseas for only a weekend each?" Kenzie chuckled. "That doesn't sound like much of a trip."

"It's not really supposed to be a vacation. It's supposed to be a 'political learning experience' that was set up in part by the President."

"Oh, you're real fancy, aren't you?"

"Well, I also found out that other kids from my school are going for that. Alli thinks we could find a way to switch partners or something."

Kenzie raised her eyebrows. "I don't think you would want to switch partners."

"Shut up, I would _love_ to switch partners."

"I hear Jake's girlfriend, Shayla, is going. Maybe you or Alli could patner up with her."

"That's a great idea!"

"Anyways, what countries are you going to?"

"There were only six on the list: Russia, Moldova, Lithuania, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. The only country on that list that actually interested me was Russia."

"What about the rest?"

"They all sound boring. I don't think I'd like visiting a country named Uzbekistan."

Kenzie smiled. "Oh, hush, look on the bright side; this is a great learning opportunity! This is your chance to visit a side of the world you never even thought about."

"Yeah, I guess that's true. I guess this trip is whatever I make of it."

Kenzie closed her locker and looked at Chase. "It sucks, though, cause we can't hang out on the weekends, anymore."

"Aww, don't be like that. I can chill on the weekdays, it's not like I'm locked at home."

The bell rang and Kenzie groaned. "Great, I have first block with AJ. Sooo awkard." she said, walking off to class.

Chase chuckled and walked off to his class.

* * *

Jake sat next to his girlfriend when they were finally in a class together. He looked at her and sighed. "Listen, I heard about your 'weekend plans.'" he said, glumly.

"I'm sorry, Jake, it's something I have to do. I've always wanted to travel to unknown parts of the world and I feel like this will be good for me."

Jake smiled. "Don't worry, it's all right. I fully support you on this decision. I just want you to know that I'm gonna miss you."

"Wow, we're only been dating a few days and we're really into each other this much."

Jake chuckled. "Yeah, I know. I guess that means we're totally compatible."

Shayla laughed. "I know, right? You're the best."

Jake shot her a smile. "You are, too."

"I'm going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you, too. Anyways, you'll only be gone for a few weekends, it's not something that'll kill me."

"At least I can get away from all the monster attack stuff that's going on." she joked.

Jake wanted to tell her so badly that he was a Power Ranger, but he knew that he couldn't. "Oh yeah, things are getting pretty tense here." he said. That wasn't entirely a lie, since he was actually tense.

"I know, sometimes I wonder whether it's truly safe here." she said.

"Yeah, you can never be sure when there are monsters on the loose."

She smiled. "Thanks." she said, turning to face the board.

* * *

**==Secret Ops Base, U.S.S. Columbia, Atlantic Ocean==**

The intercom in Raylan's room went off. "_Operative Westbrook, an F-22 Raptor U.S. fighter jet has been prepared for flight. We hope you enjoy your trip to Moscow, Russia._" the female voice said.

Raylan got up and changed into his flight attire. He loved flying jets, but he hated it when it came to flying to places he had never been. He was never entirely sure where to land all the time and had to rely on sheer hope that he would make it right.

He walked out the room and accepted the congratulations shared by the other operatives. He was somewhat of a celebrity of them after his detailed success of rounding up the Power Rangers. While they didn't know of his secret at first, they definitely knew of it now.

He saw the fighter jet waiting for him and stepped inside. He checked the engines and did all the pre-flight regulations.

It was time.

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

The only talk at school was of the Power Rangers. There were some people who were excited that the city had its own protection unit, there were some people who were terrified of what would follow, and there were others who claimed to be Rangers.

Nick and Chase were hanging out in between classes to try and get to know each other when they saw a group of five kids, three boys and two girls, march through the halls trying to pass themselves off as the Power Rangers of Palisade.

Nick looked to Chase and chuckled. "Wow, talk about attention whores." he said, looking at the kids walk by.

Chase laughed. "Oh yeah, tell me about it. So, what do you do for fun?" he asked.

"Well, I really like to sing. Music is the kind of stuff that I'm passionate about. What about you?"

"Well, I'm a track runner, but I'm trying to get into soccer of baseball, I can't just decide between the two. I'm better at soccer than baseball, but I like baseball a lot more. I absolutely hate track."

"Do you skate?" Nick asked, looking at the way Chase was dressed.

"I hate skating." Chase chuckled.

"That's good; I had a bad experience with a skateboard."

"You skate?"

"Well, I used to skate freshman year, but I had a freak accident and broke my right arm. I still get nightmares about it."

"Considering what we're about to get into, I really hope you don't break that arm again." Chase chuckled. "Besides, who knows what kind of challenges we'll have to face as Rangers?"

"Yeah, that's true. I guess I just have to look at it from a positive viewpoint." Nick smiled. "So, I hear you have some beef with Alli."

"Oh yeah, she's such a bitch. I don't know why she doesn't like me, but she just doesn't. She walks up to me and randomly just bitches me out."

Nick chuckled. "That's actually really funny. I would like to see one of your little 'face-offs'."

"Oh, no you wouldn't. They're really irritating." Chase smiled.

It was going to be fun getting to know the rest of the team.

* * *

**==Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation==**

When Raylan landed his plane at the Moscow base, he was greeted by Russian men in black suits. They were guards sent to escort Raylan to the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin.

One of the guards shook Raylan's hand. "Bylo li u Vas bezopasnyj polet?" he asked, asking whether or not Raylan had a safe flight.

"Da, jeto byl udobnyj rejs." Raylan replied, stating that his filght was comfortable.

"Nu, voz'mem vas v nash lider." an other guard said, telling Raylan that they would take him to Mr. Putin.

"Da, konechno." Raylan replied, stepping into the car with the guards.

The drive was beautiful. Raylan had only been to Russia once before, and he loved what he saw. Aside from the industrialization, Russia was a great country. Raylan's first trip to Russia had been brief and for a raid on a small terrorist base, but he enjoyed it, nonetheless. He loved getting the chance to visit foreign countries.

One of the guards who saw in front of Raylan tried to converse with him. "Itak, s chego vy rodom iz?" he asked, asking where in America Raylan came from.

"Nu, ja rodilsja i vyros v Kalifornii, no ja zhivu v Severnoj Karoline." Raylan replied, saying that he was raised in California but currently living in North Carolina.

"Kak zhivetsja v Shtatah?" the guard asked, asking how life was in the States.

"O, jeto zdorovo. Mne ochen' nravitsja, tam, na samom dele. Rossija velikaja strana, tozhe, hotja." he replied, saying that he loved the States, even though Russia was also a nice place to be.

Raylan looked out the window and saw that he was at the Russian Kremlin. It was time to meet with Vladimir Putin.


	13. Partner Switch Gone Wrong

**==Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation==**

Unfortunately, something had come up and Prime Minister Putin was unavailable to talk with Raylan that day, so Raylan had to go back to the hotel room that General Fuller paid for him. It was a fancy hotel in downtown Moscow with a great view of the city.

In his hotel room, Raylan thought about what he would have to do and what he would have to talk about. There were so many political boundaries they had to cross, but they had to stay at the basics.

One of the main points that needed to be asserted was the reason that the lights had come to the said nations. Coincidentally and possibly intentionally, these lights had flocked to former Soviet Union states, leaving the United States government concerned.

Raylan also had to talk about strengthening ties with Russian and the United States. The alliance between the two nations was only for the show of world peace, but Raylan wanted to make it a mutual reality.

As he lay down in his bed, thoughts flourished in his brain. He couldn't sleep because each time he would close his eyes, a new topic to talk about would come to his brain. He wasn't sure how he would make it through the night.

There weren't many explanations that Raylan could come up with as to why the lights were where they were. There was no way that these monsters could have been created by Soviet intelligence at the time because they had seemed to be ancient. However, they had to have had some connection to the Soviet Union as the nations were somewhat far away from where the Underground Temple was.

The only thing that was minorly related to any of this was Soviet nuclear testing. Raylan could have seen how these monsters could have been mutated as a result of nuclear radiation. However, Kazakhstan was the only nation on the list where a high amount of nuclear testing occured, and Raylan couldn't imagine why the Soviets would test their nukes in Saudi Arabia.

There had to be something more. Something that was so much more ominous that it was incomprehensible to think of at the moment. Raylan might have had an idea at the moment, but there was not enough evidence to confirm his suspicions.

What he thought was that the Russian government was as clueless as he was. There was something else involved in this. He remembered that when he raided the temple a while back that it was infested with Al Qaeda terrorists, the main cause for the raid on the temple. They might have been talking about something that would have influened these monsters; some dark idea that these monsters might have found to diabolical that it would be the best method of revenge against the humans that took their powers straight from their tomb.

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

That next morning, Chase went to Alli's locker first thing in the morning. He spotted her putting her books away and walked up to her.

"Hey, you're still up for switching partners, right?" he asked.

Alli glared at him. "No shit. What kind of idiot do you think I am?" she asked.

"Uhh...sorry...just talk to the principal, okay?"

"Whatever..." she said, closing her locker and walking away.

Kenzie watched what happened and walked over to Chase when Alli was gone. "So, how did that go?" she chuckled.

Chase put his back against the wall and sat down. "Alli is such a bitch; I better get a good partner switch." Chase said.

Kenzie sat down by him. "I know you really don't want to switch. Chase, I can see it in your eyes."

Chase laughed. "Ha, you really think I want to be paired up with the she-devil? I'd gladly take a partner switch. I'm not prepared to be stuck with that bitch for two whole days." he said.

"_Whatever_ you say..." Kenzie said, stressing the first word.

Jake noticed them sitting down and took a seat by them. "Hey, Chase, I hear you're going on that trip." he said.

"Yeah, I'm partnered up with Alli." he groaned.

Jake smiled. "Well, if you want a partner switch, I'm sure Shayla would be willing."

Chase looked over to Jake. "Well, I kinda want a partner that I could room with. I know they wouldn't let me room with a girl, so there would be no point to having a girl as a roommate. Maybe Shayla could partner up with Alli?" Chase suggested.

"Yeah, I guess that would work, too. I could see why they wouldn't let a guy and a girl room together."

Kenzie laughed. "Oh, hush up, I _know _deep down that you would love to be partnered up with Alli. I'm sure that you're actually glad this is happening."

Chase did a fake gag. "Ew, that's disgusting. I can think of hundreds of methods of ancient world torture that I would rather have performed on me than being partnered up with that bitch."

Jake chuckled. "Chase, either you really are honest about this whole 'I hate Alli' thing, or you're really good at hiding your feelings." he said. Chase stuck his tongue out when he heard that.

The bell rang and the three of them got up. "Well, I'm off to class." Kenzie said, walking off.

Jake turned to Chase. "I'm telling you, if you ever need a partner switch, Shayla could be with you." he offered.

Chase shook his head. "Nah, it's fine, I'll try to find someone else." he said, walking off to class.

* * *

Nick and Alli were hanging out in between classes. Nick was still on his mission to get to know the other Rangers fairly well. While they had only morphed once under Raylan's direction, they still needed to learn more about each other for future reference.

Nick met up with her at her locker. "Hey, Alli, what's up?" he greeted her.

She smiled as she was him. "Oh, hey, Nick!" she replied, closing up her locker.

"I heard about you getting partnered up with Chase for your internation project thingy." he chuckled.

Alli groaned. "Ugh, did Chase tell you?" she asked.

"No, actually, the word has been spreading around the school. Everyone knows how much you want to rip each other's guts out." he joked.

"Yeah, we're trying to switch partners. I'm going to talk to the principal later on today to see what we can do about this situation."

"Do you really think the principal will be able to get this all fixed up?" Nick asked.

"Well, we're both hopeful. I don't think we'll be able to survive if we have to stick together for a whole weekend every few weeks." she said, sticking her tongue out. "If I can't even bear the guy for a minute, how am I expected to bear him for fourty-eight hours?"

"Yeah, I guess that would be the logical thing to do. But, wouldn't you want to at least try to get used to each other? From now on, we're a team and I think it would be the right thing to do to get to know him a little better."

"I think we can operate this team a little better if we kept our distance. I honestly don't think he should be a Ranger, let alone be our leader."

Nick shrugged his shoulders. "Well, that's all opinion. Anyways, when do you leave for this trip?" he asked.

"The first place we go to is Russia. We leave Friday evening right after school." she replied.

"Wow, that's rough. When do you get back?"

"Monday morning. We still have to come to school that Monday, too."

"Wow, that's _really _rough." he laughed.

"Yeah, tell me about it."

The bell rang and both of them got up. "Well, I hope you guys are able to sort out your differences."

Alli chuckled. "I don't." she joked, walking away.

Nick laughed. "Whatever you say." he said, walking in the opposite dirction.

* * *

**==Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation==**

When Raylan entered the Kremlin, he was instantly taken down to a chamber to meet with Prime Minister Putin by a few guards.

When they reached the door leading to the room where Putin was, one of the guards turned to Raylan. "Kakoj parol'?" he asked, asking for a password.

"Tam est' parol'?" Raylan asked. He was confused because he was never given a password.

The guards looked at each other and laughed. "My prosto shutili. Idi vnutr'." one of the guards said, telling Raylan that they were just joking and would let him in.

When Raylan walked into the room, he saw that he was face-to-face with the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin.

"Zdravstvuj, prem'er-ministr Putin." Raylan said nervously, shaking the Prime Minister's hand.

"Sit down, I speak English." Purin replied in a thick Russian accent.

"Oh, okay." Raylan said, taking a seat.

"So what is it that you would like to talk to me about?" Putin asked.

"Well, it has come to American attention that some lights have flown into your country and other former Soviet Union states."

"That would be correct."

"So, why have they come to these nations?"

"Unfortunately, I do not know." Putin sighed. "I'm as lost in this whole mess as you are."

"I?" Raylan asked. It was informal for a country leader to represent his nation in first-person singular.

"Yes, I. Since our intelligence was unable to find things with their investigations, I tried taking things into my own hands. Sadly, I couldn't find anything, either." Putin said.

That meant that Russia was as confused as America in this whole mess. "Well, what do we do about this?" Raylan asked.

"Well, I don't really see anything that can be done. There are people called 'Power Rangers' in your nation, correct?" Putin asked.

Raylan nodded his head. "Yeah, they're supposed to put a stop to this thing."

"Well, as far as I see it, that is our only mutual option." Putin said, nodding his head as well.

"We have this whole thing planned out where we're sending two Rangers here over the weekend. That should be enough protection for the time being. I, also, was a former Ranger, I can also help."

Putin smiled. "I will allow for you to stay as long as you like. So far, you're our only option against this menace." Putin agreed.

Raylan nodded his head. "I will look to this immediately." he said.

One of the guards knocked on the door. "Vhodite!" Putin shouted, allowing the guard to enter.

"Byl napadenie na zdanie snaruzhi! Est' monstry vezde!" the guard exclaimed. What he had said was horrifying. There was a monster attack in the city and small minion monsters were crawling everywhere.

"What!?" Raylan exclaimed, getting up from his chair.

"Vy dolzhny zakazat' vse zdanija dlja razmeshhenija na blokirovku! My poluchim na jeto!" Putin exclaimed, telling the guard to put buildings on lockdown while the Prime Minster and Raylan could solve the issue.

Raylan immediately got up and rushed out of the Kremlin. His first mission was about to begin.

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Chase saw Alli at her locker and walked over to her. He still had that one important question to ask her. "Alli, about the partner switch thingy...did you talk to the principal?" Chase asked, with a hopeful gleam in his eyes.

"Yeah, I talked to him. He said that we couldn't switch..." Alli groaned.

Chase's hopeful face turned into despair. "What!? Are you kidding me!?" he asked, throwing his arms out.

"Yeah, the principal said that these decisions were final. Besides, despite our differences, I think it's kind of necessary to have two Rangers partner up. You never know what could happen over there."

Chase shook his head. "Yeah, I guess so..." he said, glumly.

"I guess it will be all right, at least we can sort out our differences."

"What differences? I think we made it pretty evident that _you _were the one that needed to sort out your problems."

"Uhh, no, you're the asshole in this entire equation."

"Whatever, I don't have time for this." Chase groaned, walking away.

Alli closed her locker and looked at Chase.

She had never really talked to the principal.


	14. Chase and Alli

**==Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation==**

Raylan ran outside the Kremlin to see a serpentine humanoid monster holding a human hostage. It looked very similar to Exo, but it was apparent that they were not the same.

"Who are you?" Raylan shouted.

The monster gurgled some random incomprehensible words.

"Kto vy?" Raylan asked again, translating his first question into Russian.

The monster understood what Raylan asked. "Ja vash samyj bol'shoj koshmar." it replied, stating that it was Raylan's biggest nightmare.

It was evident that this monster could understand Russian. "Kak vy mozhete govorit' na russkom?" Raylan asked, asking how it was able to understand the language.

"Zatknis'!" it shouted, commanding Raylan to keep quiet. The monster had its hand over the hostage's mouth.

Raylan ran away behind the Kremlin to morph away from witnesses. When he felt he was not being watched, he shouted the commands to morph into the Fire Dragon Ranger.

He ran back to the scene in a matter of a few seconds. "All right, it's time to die!" he shouted.

"No, it's time for you to die!" the monster replied.

"Oh, so now you understand English?" Raylan asked, firing shots at the monster's head.

As a sudden reaction, it let go of the human, who in turn ran away. "What have you done?" the monster asked.

"Spasibo!" the human shouted, thanking Raylan for the rescue before running away.

Raylan took this opportunity to fire one more shot at the monster, destroying it. The monster glowed a bright orange and went up in flames as its body disintegrated on the floor.

"That was easy." Raylan taunted, before unmorphing when he felt that nobody was watching him.

Prime Minister Putin emerged from the Kremlin when he felt the coast was clear. "That was...impressive." he said, shaking Raylan's hand.

"Thank you, Prime Minister." Raylan replied, accepting the handshake.

"So, what did you find out about these creatures?" the Prime Minister asked.

"Well, they can speak in humanic languages. They're also very weak. I wasn't able to find any other monsters on the scene, which is strange because that was what the guard warned us about, but whatever..." Raylan answered.

"That is...very odd..." Putin replied.

"Did you watch what went on?" Raylan asked.

"Yes, I did happen to see that little scuffle unfold. I have a question: why did the monster go up in flames?" Putin asked.

Raylan shrugged his shoulders. "I'm as lost as you are. These things are based off of Egyptian myth, though, so it might have something to do with their obsession with fire."

"Is there anything else you know about this that you might want to discuss with me?"

Raylan sighed. "Well, something I can think of is restoring economic ties with the United States." he answered.

Putin raised his eyebrows. "Why would we do that?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"It is highly evident that this is a problem no nation can solve on their own. The only way to end a struggle like this is to join forces and send it to the grave from which it came from." Raylan comprimised.

Putin thought for a moment before finally looking up. "You might be onto something. How about you stay for the week and try to get things sorted out around here while the Russian administration makes a trip the the States?" the Prime Minister suggested.

Raylan nodded his head. "I will stay here for the time being." he said.

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Nick found Kenzie at her locker and went to go talk to her. "Hey, what's up?" he asked.

Kenzie closed her locker and faced Nick. "Nothing much right now." she replied.

"Hey, you're Chase's best friend, right?" Nick asked.

Kenzie nodded her head. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Well, do you know whether him and Alli were able to switch?"

"No, they weren't. Chase told me that the principal wouldn't let them." she answered.

Nick shook his head. "Really? That's weird...because I know two people that got their partners switched.

Kenzie narrowed her eyes. "_Really?_" she asked.

Nick nodded his head. "Yup, no joke."

Kenzie giggled. "Wow, I knew neither of them would talk to the principal. They both really want to be with each other."

"Really?" he smiled.

"Yup, neither of them will admit it, but I know it."

"How can you tell?"

"Well, I _know _when Chase has feelings for a girl and I can by Alli's mannerisms that she's falling for Chase. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that they like each other."

Nick laughed. "That's really funny, but I hope it works out for them in the end."

"Oh, it _better _work out for them in the end. They're teammates before friends, remember?" Kenzie asked.

Nick nodded his head. "Of course!" he exclaimed.

"Hey, do you want to go to the Java House and hang out for a while? Since it's a quiet place, we can also get some homework done." Kenzie suggested.

Nick smiled. "Yeah, that sounds like a great idea!" he agreed.

Jake spotted the two and walked over to them. "What's going on, guys?" he asked.

Kenzie and Nick gave each other weird looks. "Well, Chase and Alli aren't switching partners." Kenzie answered.

Jake raised his eyebrows. "Don't even tell me about it, I think I can guess." he laughed.

"By the way, can you come to the Java House today to hang out?" Nick asked.

"Well, I have to see with my parents. They're getting really restrictive with this recent monster attack." he responded. "Shouldn't we get Chase and Alli?" he asked.

"I would just leave them to themselves. Chase works there on evenings, so he will have to come, but I think we should let him work out his problems with Alli, first." Kenzie answered.

* * *

Since Chase didn't drive to school that day, didn't want to take the bus, and Kenzie had to stay after school, he was forced to walk home. Usually when he didn't drive, he had Kenzie try to give him a ride. The weather that day was somewhat chilly, so Chase tried to warm his hands up by pushing them tightly into his pockets.

Alli ran behind him. "Chase! Chase!" she called out, following him.

"What do you want?" he replied, coldly.

"I need to tell you something." she said, trying to keep up with his relatively fast pace.

"What?" he asked, still walking.

"I think we can be great partners. I really know we can work this out."

Chase stopped walking and turned to face her. "You started all these problems, so as far as I'm concerned, _you _have to sort this out." he said, starting to walk again.

Alli sighed. "I never really talked to the principal." she admitted, playing with her hair.

He turned around and threw his arms out. "What the _hell_!? Why didn't you!?" he shouted.

Alli scratched her head. "Well...it's because...I kinda need to...be partnered with you..." she said.

Chase narrowed his eyes. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked. "I specifically asked you to get a partner switch."

"Chase, we _need _to be partnered up. Whether we like it or not, we have to get to know each other." Alli pointed to her morpher. "We're teammates from now on."

Chase groaned and shook his head. "Whatever..." he grumbled. He turned around and pointed at Alli. "But, if you expect this to be some weird attempt for me to apologize to you, then you're wrong." he said.

Alli half-smiled. "Trust me, it's not. While I won't apologize to you, I will have to say it's not some stupid scheme of mine." she said.

"Well, shouldn't we work things out beforehand so we won't have such an awkward project together?" he asked.

Alli shrugged her shoulders. "I guess so. Mind if I walk with you?" she asked.

Chase sighed. "Whatever...it doesn't really matter to me." he said, waiting for her to catch up.

Alli nodded her head and rushed over to Chase.

Chase wasn't really sure why Alli wouldn't talk to the principal, but he trusted her for some weird reason. While she had been the bane of his emotions for the past week, he knew that they needed to trust each other. They were teammates, after all, and they were going to have to work together at some point in the future, no matter how much they couldn't stand each other.

"So, what's the real reason you didn't talk to the principal?" he asked.

Alli shook her head. "Like I said, I thought there was no reason to not be partnered up." she said.

Chase chuckled. "So, do you even know what we're supposed to do on this trip?" he asked.

"Well, my dad said that he would be coming as a chaperone because of his job."

"What job does he have?"

"He works for the FBI so he has to be an international agent."

Chase shook his head. "Oh, that's cool. That's actually kinda intimidating." he said. "Anyways, like I asked earlier, do you have any idea what we're supposed to be doing?

"I actually don't know anything about this. All I know is that we're going to be touring these 'unknown' parts of the world doing some sort of research."

"Eh, it's fine, we'll found out what we're supposed to do when the time is right."

"What if there's an attack on Palisade when we're gone?" Alli asked.

Chase scratched his head. "Well, we still have three teammates down here. There's a chance that FBI dude might also be here to help out." he answered.

"Did he ever tell us his name?" Alli asked.

Chase shrugged his shoulders. "His FBI badge said 'Raylan Westbrook', but other than that, he never told us his name." he replied.

"Do you know anything about him?" Alli asked.

"Well, I noticed him earlier at the Java House with a group of people about the same age as him. Mrs. King was at the table with him, so I'm guessing she's friends with him." Chase answered.

"Do you think we should talk to her tomorrow? I'm sure she'll know quite a lot about him."

"Yeah, let's get to her room early tomorrow morning to make sure no one else is there." Chase agreed.

"Yeah, that's a great idea." Alli agreed. "Could you give me a ride tomorrow morning?" she asked.

"Yeah, I can." Chase confirmed. He stopped for a second. "Wait a minute; do you rememer how he used a watch like ours to morph?" he asked.

Alli nodded her head slowly. "Yeah, he used one that was dark red." she answered.

Chase smirked. "Well, have you ever noticed that Mrs. King wears the same watch on her wrist, only the one on hers is pink?" he asked.

Alli facepalmed. "Whoa, I have never noticed that! She's a Power Ranger!" she exclaimed.

Chase smiled. "Wow, we make a really great team. Look at what we've been able to solve!"

Alli smiled back at him. "You know what? I'm really looking forward to this trip." she said, looking at Chase.

Chase chuckled. "To be honest with you, I kind of am, as well." he said, looking back at her.

Alli played with her hair. "I don't like you at all, Chase." she said.

Chase could tell she wasn't being serious. "I don't like you either, Alli." he joked.

She chuckled and looked at him. "I'm glad that's not the truth." she said.

Chase smiled back at her. "I'm glad we're getting through our problems." he said.

Chase's phone vibrated and he pulled it out to see the text from Kenzie. It read: _"Going 2 java house 2nite, bring alli"_.

"What was that about?" Alli asked.

"We're going to my house so I can get my work clothes. We're going to the Java House." he said.

They smiled as they walked with each other; maybe there was something more that they had together.


	15. Mission One

**==Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation==**

For some reason, Raylan couldn't manage to get himself some shut-eye. He would constantly think about the strange attack on the city earlier. The guard had said that there were multiple monsters, but when he got out there, there was only one. Also, unlike the shadows of Smalltown, these monsters held _human beings _hostage.

Raylan propped himself up from his bed and looked around the room. Fortunately, the media was slow in their process of events and what happened down by the Kremlin had not been reported yet.

There was still so much that he had to learn about this breed of serpentine creatures that had not been revealed yet. Why did Al Qaeda have a base in the temple? Why did the monsters not rid their home of the terrorist organization in a timely manner? There were still many questions that needed answers.

It was evident that not even the Prime Minister knew what was going on and that not even the union of both the Russian and American armies could do anything about this menace. Not only that, Raylan also had to go on to five more countries to talk to their leaders about the problem.

When there was so much to do, the last thing Raylan could focus on was sleep. Raylan was used to not sleeping; in fact, he had gone a whole ten days without shutting his eyes once during a raid on a Serbian compound before. The mission that he had to fulfill was his first priority and sleep was his last.

Raylan knew that there would be an imminent attack on both Moscow and Palisade in the near future. He fully understood that these spirits were following him and the rest of the Rangers.

Things were getting really weird; this was not at all similar to what he dealt with in Smalltown.

He had to contact the teenagers and tell them of what he knew before the media would be able to get to them.

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Chase and Alli were at Chase's house while he got changed for his evening work shift at the Java House. Alli was sitting on his bed, playing around with a stuffed animal monkey that she found under it.

"What's this?" she asked Chase when he re-entered the room in his uniform.

"That's a monkey Kenzie bought me a few years ago after her visit to the Caribbean." he answered.

She turned the stuffed animal around and read the text on the back. "Forward, upward, onward, together." she read aloud.

"That's the national motto of the Bahamas." he answered. He walked over to his bed and took a seat by her. "So, why were you so mean to me those first few days of school?" he asked.

An awkward smile formed on her face. "Ehh...I guess I just wanted to talk to you. You're really not an asshole, I just wanted to get close to you."

Chase awkwardly inched away from her. "Uhh..."

"No! It's not like I like your or anything...I just thought you were nice...I'm sorry..." she assured and apologized.

Chase sighed and moved closer in. "Well, I guess I can forgive you." he smiled, pulling her in for a hug.

"Thanks." she said after he let go.

Suddenly, the phone rang and his parents, who were downstairs and had Monday and Tuesday off every week, answered the phone. After a minute of talking, his mom yelled for Chase to pick up the phone.

Chase picked it up from the handset in his room. "Hello?" he asked.

"Hey, Chase, it's Kenzie. You obviously haven't been getting my texts. Come to the Java House now, we're all waiting for you and Alli." Kenzie said on the other end of the line.

"She's here with me. I'll be there." he answered, looking at Alli.

"Okay. Bye." Kenzie said, hanging up.

Chase walked over to Alli. "Well, I guess we better get going." he said, helping her up and out of the house.

* * *

Chase drove her over to the Java House where they met up with the rest of the group who had been waiting for half an hour.

"Wow, couldn't have taken you longer." Kenzie growled.

"I'm sorry...we just had to talk things through." Chase mumbled, looking at Alli.

She smiled at him. "It's all good here." she said.

Kenzie motioned into the shop. "Shouldn't we go in?" she asked.

They all walked in and sat around the bar while Chase set everything up. He was in charge of the coffee and juice bar there and was the head baristsa.

Kenzie turned her barstool over to order from him.

"Let me guess, the usual?" he asked, starting to make her the usual chocolate mocha frap.

Kenzie gleefully nodded and watched Chase make her drink. "Thanks!" she squealed.

"Can I have a vanilla espresso?" Alli asked, waiting for Chase to finish Kenzie's drink.

Nick looked over the bulletin board for the specials of the day. "I'll take a choco-burner." he said.

Chase glanced over at Nick. "I hope you know that's _extremely _hot." he informed.

Nick nodded his head. "Hey, I'm here to try new things." he smiled.

Jake thought for a second. "Get me that choco-burner, too." he said. "I'm feeling pretty ballsy."

Chase chuckled as he got their drinks all prepared.

* * *

Emma groaned as she changed Casey's diaper. She had been taking care of Casey without Raylan for a long time, but she got too accustomed to having him there with her. When it came her time to finally take care of Casey by herself, she had been worn out.

When Emma finished up the diaper, Casey started to coo. The cooing noises that Casey made were the cutest things in the world to Emma. She was willing to do anything for her daughter.

"Ma-ma!" Casey babbled, waving her fists around.

Emma's eyes popped out. Those had been the first intelligible words Casey had spoken since she was born. Emma's goal was to get Casey to say at least one word before she was one, and Casey's birthday was next month. Emma's mission had been complete.

"Oh my gosh! Casey, you said something!" she shrieked, instantly cuddling her little daughter.

Casey started to giggle in her mother's arms. "Ma-ma!" she babbled, again.

Emma held her daughter tightly. "I love you so much, Casey. I wish your da-da was here to see this." she said, squishing Casey's cheeks.

Since Raylan had left to go on his global mission, Emma had been so lonely. While Raylan had been gone for long trips before, she had never felt as lonely as this. A huge milestone in their daughter's life such as her first words was something that was not generally supposed to be missed, and Emma felt like the whole family wasn't there to celebrate it. While her video chats with him were always exciting, it was never the same as seeing him in person.

Raylan was the type of father who would be proud of his daughter for something like this. She could already sense that he was protective over Casey and it was evident that Casey and Emma meant the world to him.

She remembered when she gave birth to Casey. Raylan had to request special permission to leave his post and fly all the way to Palisade to watch it happen. She could tell he was exhausted, but he was still there for her. Just as much as he watched over his family, she wanted to be there for him. She wanted him to know that she was truly appreciative of everything he did for them.

Emma tried to smile, but the thought of not being able to share such an important moment with her husband was stuck in her head.

* * *

Right when Chase handed all four of them their drinks, his phone vibrated in his pocket. When he pulled it out, he didn't recognize the number.

"Who is it?" Alli asked.

Chase shrugged his shoudlers. "It's an unknown number. I would answer it, but I can't since I'm working." he said.

Alli took his phone from his hand. "Don't worry, I got this." she said. She put the phone close to her ear. "Hello?" she answered.

"Hello, who is this?" the voice on the other end of the line asked. It was strikingly familiar.

"This is Allison...well, Alli...Chase can't talk right now." she replied.

"Oh, hello. This is Raylan...remember, that agent who gave you guys your powers?" Raylan asked.

Alli recognized Raylan's voice. "Oh yeah! What's going on?" she asked. When she realized everyone was giving her confused looks, she mouthed Raylan's name to all of them. Chase explained who he was since the other Rangers forgot for a bit. It was still a mystery how he received Chase's number.

"Well, are you in a private area?" Raylan asked.

"No, not at the moment."

"Can you get to one?"

Alli looked around, got up, and walked into the ladies' room. "I am now. There's no one in here. So, what's going on?"

"Well, there was an attack on Moscow earlier today. That's where I am right now."

"Whoa, no way! Why haven't we heard about this yet?"

"Well, the Russian government has put the media in halt over covering this story. Has anything happened in Palisade, yet?"

"No, nothing has happened."

"Good. Anyways, do you remember that school project you got where you were assigned to go to different countries?" Raylan asked.

Alli nodded her head. "Yeah, I remember that. What about it?"

"Well, to put the long story short, those countries are countries where we believe monster attacks will take place. We picked you and Chase to partner up so you can get there and stop it in its tracks."

"I knew it!" Alli exclaimed.

"Well, that's not it. I'm going to be with you guys in secret so you won't be alone."

"Well, is that it?" Alli asked.

"That's all the news I have for now. I'll call you guys or message you on your morphers till then. Goodbye." he said.

"Bye-bye." she replied, hanging up the phone. She walked out of the ladies room and back over to the coffee bar.

"What was that about?" Jake asked.

Alli looked around for any snoopers before she answered. "There was a monster attack in Moscow. The news hasn't gotten to the public, yet. The reason this project was assigned was so that Chase and I could get to these countries to stop future attacks." she replied.

"Whoa! What?" Chase exclaimed, almost dropping a drink he was making for himself. "Are you serious?"

Alli nodded. "I'm afraid that I'm one-hundred percent serious. He's going to be down there with us when we go so we have a bit of protection."

"What about Palisade? What if there's an attack while we're gone?"

Kenzie chuckled. "You idiot, Nick, Jake, and I have this all under control. I'm sure three Rangers can amount to something." she said.

"We also might think Mrs. King is a Ranger." Alli said.

"What?" Jake asked. "You can't be serious!" he exclaimed.

Alli and Chase both nodded their heads. "We are." Chase answered. "Have you ever noticed the pink watch she wears? It's almost the same as the morpher that Raylan or whatever his name was used to morph in front of us."

Jake was stunned. "That's...incredible!" he exclaimed.

"Alli and I were going to go over and talk to her tomorrow morning." Chase said. "You three should join us." he suggested.

Kenzie, Nick, and Jake nodded their heads. "Only if you give all of us rides." Nick smiled.

Chase nodded his head. "Yeah, I could do that. So is this a plan?" he asked.

The other four Rangers nodded. "Yeah." they all said.

Chase clapped his hands together. "Awesome! So it looks like our first mission as Power Rangers will start tomorrow morning!" he exclaimed.

The other four motioned for him to keep it down. "You don't know who could be listening." Kenzie barked.

"Sorry..." Chase whimpered.

Nick was the most excited out of them all. "Wow, I have been in love with Power Rangers for so long. To learn that I will become one of them is crazy, and to know that one of my teachers is one is even crazier. I don't know how my life could get better." he said.

"Remember that this is an actual mission and not something to be played around with." Jake reminded him.

Nick nodded. "Of course, but let me just have my happiness for a little bit."

"So we leave for school the first thing tomorrow morning at about seven?" he asked the rest of his team. They all nodded. "Great, let's make our first mission a success." he encouraged.

The Power Rangers were just getting started.

* * *

**AS ALWAYS, DROPPIN' A REVIEW NEVER HURT :)**


	16. Unify The Team

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Since Chase drove Alli home, Kenzie had to hitch a ride with Nick. The car ride wasn't all that awkward and they got to know each other pretty well.

"So, are you surprised that Chase and Alli were able to work it out?" Nick asked.

"To be honest with you...no, I am not surprised." Kenzie answered. "I've always known that they liked each other."

"How?"

A smirk appeared on Kenzie's face. "I could just tell. The way they carry themselves around each other just proves everything. It's not that hard to pay attention to." she said.

Nick smirked as well. "Wow, I would have never guessed. I actually thought they hated each other."

"No, of course not. Alli just bitched him out so she could get close to him and Chase purposely went wherever she went so he could interact with her. He was willing to take whatever interaction he could with her, even if it was negative."

Nick chuckled. "Wow, I never knew that Chase was like that. Some clever kid."

"Well, I don't think Chase knows that he likes her. In fact, I don't think Alli knows that she likes Chase, either."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm not an expert on high school love or anything, but I can tell that they're just discovering their emotions. I would understand that it takes some getting used to. Besides, I think they'd make a great couple."

Nick parked his car on Kenzie's driveway. "Well, we're here." he said.

She opened the door and stepped out. "Thanks for the ride, Nick!" she smiled, waving him goodbye.

* * *

Chase dropped Alli off at her house. "Well, goodbye." he said, rather awkwardly.

She smiled as she stepped out of the car. "I had a great time. I'm glad we're friends." she said, stepping inside of her house.

Chase waited for her to get inside her house before he actually drove away.

Alli's parents were fast asleep and she walked straight up to her room and call it a night.

That night, Alli couldn't find any possible way get herself some sleep. There were too many things that happened and thoughts that crossed her mind during the day that she still had to reflect on.

Ever since the moment when she made things work with Chase, she felt something weird. It was something that she had felt before, but she thought too hard about what it was. Every time she thought about what it was, something would make her forget about it.

Her phone vibrated on her nightstand. She picked it up to read the message from Chase :"_remember 2 wake up early 2morrow_" it read.

She smiled and quickly replied: "_lol k dont worry_" she texted back.

For some reason, that was able to ease her tension. She tossed and turned as she realized what the problem was. She knew that feeling like the back of her hand. She was always both terrified and happy of that feeling.

She held the tip of her blanket close to her, pretending it was Chase's monkey that she felt earlier. The events that happened earlier on during the day really gave her some insight on how she truly felt about certain people. When her tension was eased, she was finally able to fall asleep.

She was in love with Chase Vereen.

* * *

Chase was extremely groggy when he got home. He was tired and just wanted to go straight to bed. His parents were up doing taxes and he just slugged his way upstairs, ignoring them.

"Chase, is everything alright?" his mom asked, glancing up at him walking up the stairs.

"Yeah...I'm fine..." he grumbled, walking straight up to his room.

His mom shrugged her shoulders and went back to doing her taxes. "Whatever you say..." she said.

When he got in his room, he loudly shut the door behind him. He was confused and hurt, but he didn't know why. There were butterflies flying around in his stomach; something that he hadn't felt in a long time.

He remembered the last time he felt something like this: it was middle school and he asked a girl out for the first time in his life. He was nervous and madly in love, despite his young age. Nonetheless, the relationship lasted no more than a few days. After that disaster, Chase truly realized what love meant and tried to stay out of the paths of girls.

This time, however, something was trying to pull him back in. Every second he tried to blank out, he heard Alli Matthews's piercing British accent resonate throughout his head. Something about her mesmerised him into this weird trance. He couldn't stop thinking about her, no matter how much he wanted her out of his head.

He thought sending her a text would calm him down. "_remember 2 wake up early 2morrow_" he texted her.

He waited anxiously for a reply. He got one in a matter of seconds. "_lol k dont worry_" it read.

He jittered around in his bed and tried to lie down. That fulfilled his nightly dose of Alli Matthews and was good enough to calm him down. He wanted to be with her twenty-four/seven.

He was in love with Alli Matthews.

* * *

When Chase's alarm clock rang, he jumped straight out of bed and sent a Group Chat message to the rest of his team. "_hey, rise and shine, we gotta go!_" he texted.

He zipped in and out of the bathroom, taking care of his morning duties. He got into his closet and tried to throw on whatever decent clothes he had as he rushed out of the hosue and into the car. It was going to be a big day and he couldn't take any chances.

He stopped first at Kenzie's house. Since she was his best friend, she got the perks of being picked up first. "Hey Kenzie!" he exclaimed, watching her get into the car.

"Hey, Chase, who are we going to get next?" she asked, taking a seat in the back.

"We're going to get Jake next." he answered. "By the way, why aren't you sitting shotgun?" he asked.

"Eh, I just don't feel like it." she answered.

That wasn't the real reason she chose not to sit shotgun. She planned before they left that her, Jake, and Nick would have to let Alli ride shotgun and see how she would interact with Chase. It was a devious plan to see whether they were compatible.

Chase pulled his car out of Kenzie's driveway and drove the short distance to Jake's house. Jake lived in Kenzie's neighborhood, so it wasn't hard getting over there. Jake was already waiting outside his house when Chase got there, so it didn't take long to get into the car.

"What's up, bro?" Jake greeted, taking a seat in the back.

"Why aren't you sitting shotgun, either?" Chase asked.

"I'm not feelin' it, yet." he said, sitting next to Kenzie.

"Whatever..." Chase mumbled, driving next to Nick's house.

Nick lived a bit farther away, but he still lived a short distance from the rest of them. Like Jake, Nick was already sitting outside, waiting for Chase to arrive.

Nick, like the other two, climbed into the back seat. "Hey guys." he said.

"Why are you all in the back?" Chase asked.

"Don't worry about it." Nick answered.

Chase shrugged his shoulders and drove off to Alli's house. She lived quite a distance from the rest of the Rangers. She lived in the affluent side of Palisade as her father earned enough money as an FBI agent. Her mother was a doctor, as well, which increased the family's payload.

Chase drove into her gate and waited until she finally exited her house. When he saw her, he quickly got up and held the door open for her. In the back seat, Nick, Jake, and Kenzie all raised their eyebrows at each other. They were all thinking the same thing.

"Hey guys!" she exclaimed, sitting in the shotgun seat next to Chase.

"Hey, Alli." he said, awkwardly. He tried not to glance at her too much. "Well, let's get off to school." he said, driving them away.

The entire car ride was the three Rangers in the back listening to what Alli and Chase were saying. They had a colorful discussion about everything they drove past, and they could tell that Chase was simply nodding his head and listening to what Alli had to say.

When they finally arrived at school, they saw that they were the only people in the parking lot.

"Great, nobody's here yet." Nick moaned. "So now we have to wait?"

"It can't be all that bad." Kenzie replied. "After all, we can just chill out until Mrs. King gets here."

"Hey, are you sure she's a Ranger?" Jake asked Chase.

"Yeah, I'm absolutely positive. There's no doubt that she's Power Ranger. Not only did she have the Pink Morpher, but she was also sitting with Raylan when he came over to give us our powers. I'm sure she's got powers." Chase answered, holding the school doors open for them.

They all walked in and sat against the wall right next to her room.

"So, what do we have to talk to her about?" Kenzie asked.

"Well, we have to confirm that she's a Ranger." Alli answered. "Then, we have to get some tips and tricks from her. I'm sure she could also train us a bit."

Nick had his usual excitement about everything Ranger related. "Wow, this is awesome. We get a trainer!" he exclaimed.

"Hey, we don't know any of that for sure." Chase replied.

"Weren't you positive that she was a Ranger?" Jake asked.

"Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean she can have the time to train us. She's a teacher, for Pete's sake." Chase answered.

Nick was still excited. "I remember from all those tapes on Youtube that the Pink Ranger kicked ass. She controlled a robotic Rhinoceros. How cool is that?"

"That is pretty damn cool." Chase agreed. "I hope we get some robotic creatures, too." he said.

Just as he finished his sentence, they saw Ryleigh walk into school. "Well, hello there, what's going on?" she asked the five of them.

"Hi, Mrs. King!" Kenzie greeted. "We kinda need to talk to you...in private."

Ryleigh knew what they had to talk to her about; after all, she was the one that picked them to be the new Rangers. "I already know where this is going. Come into my room with me." she said, leading the students into her classroom. After inspecting for people around, she closed the door and locked it.

"Mrs. King, are you a Power Ranger?" Chase asked.

Ryleigh nodded her head. "Yes, I am. Well, I was. I try not to use my powers too often so that I can take care of my family." she answered.

That was the confirmation Nick needed before he broke down. "All hail Mrs. King!" he exclaimed, getting on his knees.

"I'm actually the one that picked you five." she said, taking a seat at her desk. "Sit down, guys." she said, motioning for the teenagers to sit down in the desks in front of her.

"Well, can you train us a bit?" Chase asked. "We're only new at this and we kinda need all the help we can get."

"Of course I can train you! The only problem is that I'm not going to have much time. How about on the weekends?" she offered.

The five kids nodded their heads. "Yeah, that works." they all agreed.

Ryleigh nodded her head in confirmation. "Awesome. By the way, please call me Ryleigh when we're talking about Power Rangers matters; as a team, I think we should all be on a first-name basis. Calling me Mrs. King in school is one thing, but calling me that as a fellow Ranger is a bit weird. I don't want to be called by my first name in school because that would look...suspicious. Calling me Ryleigh outside of school would help us get more familiar with each other, wouldn't it?"

Chase chuckled. "Yes, Ryleigh." he answered.

* * *

**AS ALWAYS, DROPPIN' A REVIEW NEVER HURT :)**


	17. Dead

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Chase floated his way through his first two classes. Every word his teachers said sounded like 'Alli' and he almost accidentally wrote 'Alli Matthews' as his name on a worksheet.

When third period came, Chase couldn't hold himself in. Lunch immediately followed third period and he would see Alli then.

Shannon Ackerman, the girl known for starting a crazy rumour about her and Chase, always took the seat next to him. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that she hadn't given up on her hopes and dreams of being with him.

"Hey, Chase!" she chirped, placing her hand on his shoulder.

He gently shrugged it off. "Hi, Shannon..." he mumbled, scooting away.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing, just go away before you start anything else." Chase groaned.

"Listen, I'm sorry about all that rumour bullshit. I just want to start fresh." she apologized.

Chase did an awkward half-smile. "Yeah, whatever." he groaned. "Just don't try anything sneaky."

Shannon smirked. "So, anyways, my parents aren't going to be home during the weekend, how about you come over and..."

Chase shook his head. "I tought I made something clear. _No _funny business."

Shannon scoffed. "Ugh, whatever dork. I'll take myself elsewhere. I'm sure there are plenty of other great guys in the world that would be dying to have me. Goodbye, loser." she taunted, making the infamous 'L' on her head.

Chase smiled to himself in his seat. He wouldn't let anyone get in between his plans with Alli.

* * *

Despite Alli's excitement, she had to keep herself cool. She couldn't let anyone know that she had something for Chase Vereen, the guy everyone had believed she grew to despise.

She blamed herself for everything. The decision to get pissed at Chase for no reason had been the worst decision of her life. While Chase had forgiven her, she had not forgiven herself. She knew she was wrong and nothing she could have done would be able to take it back.

Since she was still single, however, guys were still flocking over to her. She was used to turning down guys because she was never really interested in dating, but she had never turned down a guy because she was in love with another.

Alli jittered in her seat and looked up at the clock. Only another half hour before she would be able to go off to lunch and talk to Chase again. She had been keeping track of every conversation they had ever had.

Before she could blink, another guy walked over to her. "Hello?" she greeted him.

"Hi...Allison...uhh...I mean...Alli..." he said, awkwardly.

She knew what was coming. "So, what's going on?" she asked, trying to play it off.

"Uhh...just...wondering about...you know...things..." he said, shuffling his hands in his pocket.

"Like what?" she asked. The one thing she hated about guys who asked her out was that they always made her do the work.

"Well...are you free tonight? I have to warn you, I like to go hard on the first date." he smiled.

Alli widened her eyes. "Uhh...I'm good, thanks." she said, waving him goodbye.

"Darn it." he said under his breath, walking away.

When he got far enough away from her, she turned around and rushed over to her locker. She opened it and tried to take a look around to hide the expression on her face. She couldn't contain her thoughts about Chase.

* * *

When lunchtime came, Chase couldn't have rushed to look for Alli any faster. He memorized where her locker was an scooted right over there the first second he could.

He caught her by surprise by tapping on her back. "Hey, Alli!" he exclaimed.

She shrieked and dropped her books. "Oh my gosh, Chase, don't scare me like that!" she shouted, startled.

He scratched his head and picked her books up. "Uhh, sorry. What's up?" he asked.

She smiled and took her books from his hands. "Nothing much. Do you wanna get lunch together or something?"

"Yeah, sure, do you know any good places?"

"Well, there's a Mexican place called-"

"I don't even care what it's called; I _love _Mexican, let's go." he agreed, going off with her.

Kenzie, Jake, and Nick were watching from a distance. They had already agreed on the fact that Chase and Alli were into each other, regardless of how many times they denied it.

"What do you think is gonna happen?" Nick asked.

Kenzie raised her eyebrows. "Well, it will take some time, but they'll get accustomed to each other."

"How do you know that?" Jake asked.

"If you've known the guy for as long as I have, you would know when he's really into someone."

"I always thought Chase wasn't into girls because of all that attention he received." Nick added in.

"Not entirely true; Chase has always been into girls. To be honest, I always knew he liked Alli, even before he got to know her."

"Really!?" they both exclaimed.

"Yeah, he would have to be an idiot to not see how gorgeous of a girl Alli Matthews is."

* * *

When the school day was finally over, the Rangers met up at the lockers by Ryleigh's room. Chase was the one who organized the meeting by sending a message in the Rangers' group text.

"So, what are we doing here?" Nick asked.

"Well, I kinda wanna know what our powers are...what are roles are, to be exact." Chase said. "Right now, Mrs. King is the only person we have access to who can give us thsoe answers."

They knocked on the door to see if she was free. Lucky for them, she had no students making up quizzes and homework assignments after school. As such, she let them in promptly.

"Hey, Mrs. King!" they all said.

She glared at them as she graded papers. "Remember, call me Ryleigh." she said, putting the stack of Chapter 1 quizzes down.

"Sorry, Ryleigh." Chase apologized on behalf of his team. "There's still so much we have to learn."

"I understand your curiosity. When my team got their powers, we were extremely confused; we weren't sure what to do with them."

"So, how did you get used to them?" Jake asked.

"Well, as time progressed, we were able to master our powers. It didn't take really long and we became pros at it after only a few tries."

Chase sighed. "Anyways, we were wondering if you could-"

"Teach you about your powers?" Ryleigh interrupted. "Yeah, I can." she answered.

"Awesome! So...when?" Chase asked.

"Well, we can go today. Do you know of any secluded spots?"

"Well, we can always go out into the woods and train." Nick suggested.

All of the Rangers nodded. "That sounds plausible." Ryleigh agreed.

"Well, we can't train in the woods _forever_." Alli said.

Ryleigh thought for a few seconds. "Well, I have some friends who might be able to actually make us an official training area. For now, we'll have to settle with the woods." she decided.

When the Rangers got up to leave, Ryleigh's phone vibrated. When she checked the caller ID, she could see it was Emma.

"Hey, Emma." she answered.

"Hey, Ryleigh. I have terrible news." Emma said, sounding urgent. "Raylan's dead."

* * *

Emma didn't know how to handle the news she had heard. When she got the call from General Fuller, she thought it was a prank. General Fuller was the type of person who would pull off something like that, so it was only natural to take it lightly.

This time, however, the general was serious. His tone was somber and there was no sort of laughter on the other end. The second Emma realized that it was true, she dropped the phone straight on the ground.

She curled up in a ball on the couch and started to cry loudly. Casey was playing with her stuffed animals when she heard her mom crying.

Casey got up and toddled over to Emma. "Ma-ma?" she asked, sensing something was wrong.

Emma immediately picked up Casey and held her close. "I love you, Casey." she cried. "Don't go..."

Casey was still confused. "Ma-ma?" she asked, again.

Emma cuddled her daughter close to her chest. There was no way that a little toddler like her would be able to understand what was going on.

"Casey, your da-da is dead..." Emma whimpered. There was no possible way she could ever take those words back. She didn't want her little daughter to be frightened and didn't know how to explain something like this, but she had to find a way.

"Da-da?" Casey babbled. The second word she ever said was a non-existent being. With Raylan gone, there was absolutely no meaning to what Casey had just said.

"No, Casey, there's no more da-da." Emma sobbed, cuddling her daughter closer.

That was the final straw. Emma was the last thing Casey had left, and she wouldn't give up on her daughter. She didn't want Casey to see her like this and knew she had to fight back all emotion.

The call she made to Ryleigh was significant. Ryleigh as Emma's closest friend, and if anyone could keep her comforted, it was Ryleigh. Ryleigh and Emma had been through a lot together: they had fought giant monsters, married at the same time, and even had children two weeks apart. If anybody could help Emma, it was Ryleigh.

What Emma didn't know was that Casey knew what she meant. While Casey couldn't understand language, she could understand emotion. She knew why Emma was sad, and she was sad as well. She started to cry with her mother.

"No, Casey, please smile..." Emma whimpered. "I just want a happy family..." she cried.

* * *

**==Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation==**

Raylan was pissed. He wanted to pick up the nearest blunt object and throw it as hard as he could against a wall. There were no words in existence that could describe the anger he felt.

General Fuller's stupid idea was to tell his wife that he had died in some stupid car wreck to protect his disclosed mission info. What General Fuller forgot was that Emma knew Raylan was a Power Ranger and when the media got a hold on battle footage, Emma would be the first to see. Not only would the idea have backfired, but he was sure that Emma was in distress.

The first thing he thought of was his little daughter, Casey. He couldn't know what was going on in the little girl's mind and whether or not she really had any clue about what was going on. He couldn't bear to think that Casey would have to think about life without her father.

Raylan's frustration his an extreme point. He screamed as loud as he could and slammed his fist on the nightstand by his bed.

He instantly picked up his phone and tried videochatting over to his wife. He couldn't stand thinking that she might feel like he was actually dead. When he got to his FaceTime app, he saw it was blocked. There was a U.S. Government seal; it was evident that they really wanted him of the census.

Raylan jumped into his bed and buried his head in the pillow. He wanted to cry, but he knew he couldn't.

That's when it hit him. In his new life of being anonymous, he had to go on with his mission. He had to make the world a safer place where his family could live happily.

He hated being dead, but he had to do this for the loves of his life: Emma and Casey.

* * *

**AS ALWAYS, DROPPIN' A REVIEW NEVER HURT :)**


	18. Not Dead

**==Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation==**

Raylan quickly dialed General Fuller's number. What he had to deal with was complete bullshit and he wanted a legitimate explanation.

"Hello?" General Fuller answered the phone.

"General, I'm extremely unhappy with your decision." Raylan said, angrily.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you basically told the two people in the world I love the most that I 'died in a car crash' and left it at that. Why?" Raylan asked.

"Uhh, you see, we're the United States Secret Operatives and..."

"And what? How can this _possibly _be explained. Let's hear this." Raylan said.

"Well...we're the most secretive branch of..."

"Why are you trailing off? Can't you explain yourself?"

"To be honest with you...I can't." General Fuller finally admitted.

"So why did you tell my family that _I died_. What the fuck was the point of that?"

"Umm...because...uhh...we could..."

"You told them I died because _you could_!? Are you guys out of your minds!?" Raylan screamed.

"Hey, do not scream at your general like that!" General Fuller warned.

"Or what, you'll tell people that my wife died, too?" Raylan taunted. "I didn't think you guys could be so stupid."

"You don't understand! I was playing truth-or-dare with some of the operatives and they dared me to do it! You should be mad at them!"

Raylan scoffed. "I can't for two reasons: one, I don't know who they are, and two, why did you even go along with it?"

"Because I had to!"

Raylan shook his head. "I never knew you guys could be so immature...you've earned the named of the government's most elite combat organization and you play a truth-or-dare game that can make or break someone's life? Grow the hell up!" he shouted.

General Fuller lightly chuckled. "Uhh...sorry..." he tried to apologize.

Raylan wouldn't accept it. "No, that's bullshit. I want you to call my wife right now and tell her about your stupid truth-or-dare game." Raylan demanded.

"No! I won't! This has become an official command!" General Fuller said.

"What the _hell_? You have got to be kidding me..." Raylan groaned. "You might be the biggest idiot there has ever been. How did you get such high of a position?" Raylan asked, sarcastically.

"This is awkward..."

"No, it's not awkward at all. You just might be the dumbest pile of...grr, I don't even know." Raylan growled.

General Fuller was silent. "I guess..."

"You guess what? Now I can't even go back to my family! Thanks a lot, shit for brains." Raylan grumbled.

"Operative...don't do this...you're the best we've got..."

"You're so lucky you're the goddamn general...if you were just some lowly operative, I would have blown your ass out of the base." Raylan threatened.

"Now think rationally, Westbrook."

"Think rationally!? You want me to _think rationally _when you told my family that I died all because of a stupid truth-or-dare game!? What the hell is the matter with you?" Raylan screamed.

The general groaned on the other end. "Why don't you just..."

"Shut up, I'm done talking with you. The next time I hear from you, I expect my family to be back in one piece. Goodbye." he said, hanging up.

In anger, he throw his phone against the wall, shattering the screen. After sitting on his head for a few minutes, he got up and picked his phone back up. The screen was completely shattered, but his phone was still functional.

No amount of materialistic reward could help calm Raylan down. He was at his wits end with what the general did. Not only was it stupid and immature, it was also stressful. He could only imagine what Emma was going through at the moment. If he had ten minutes of alone time with the general, the general would be leaving the conversation in an ambulance.

_I am going to decommission you, Fuller. _Raylan thought. _I had some respect for you, but that's all gone__._

There were a lot of calls he had to make.

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

The teenagers could all see Ryleigh's worried expression. "What's wrong?" Alli asked.

"Umm...do you remember that guy...Raylan...who gave you your powers?" Ryleigh responded. "Yeah, we'll he's dead." she said, blatantly.

None of the Rangers were able to truly feel any sadness as they had only known him for a little while. "Uhh...I'm sorry for your loss?" Chase tried consolidating.

"No, it's fine, it's something we go through that we're going to have to overcome." she said, trying not to shed a tear.

"About the training..." Nick said, trying to keep their conversation moving.

"Yeah, that's right, we'll need to go into the woods." Ryleigh said, trying to look positive.

"Fortunately, I know a great spot in the woods not too far from here. I usually go there when my computer doesn't work so I can listen to my voice echo and practice singing." Nick said. "I can lead the way, too."

"Great! Let's do this!" Kenzie smiled.

"What exactly are we going to be working on?" Jake asked.

"I'm going to try and help you guys out with your battle preparation and stances first so that the city doesn't think their first line of protection is useless. That way, you'll be able to roll into battle knowing what you have to deal with" Ryleigh said.

"But you guys were pretty good in your first fight in Smalltown." Nick said.

"We got lucky with a small menace. There's no telling whether you guys will go up against the leader first of a large army of whatever these monsters are. Come on, let's get out to these woods." Ryleigh said, leading the Rangers out of school.

* * *

Emma hung up the phone call from General Fuller. She took a huge sigh of relief as she heard that her husband was still alive and doing well. He was the one who forced the general to call and reply.

She tried telling this to Casey, but it was evident that the little girl still didn't understand. "Casey, your da-da is fine!" she squealed, overjoyed by the news.

While she was thrilled, she was also angry. She wanted to grab General Fuller by his throat and strangle him until he was no more. There were no words he could say that would be able to explain his side of be able to defend himself. He had done too much damage.

Emma had also called Ryleigh, as well. Now she had to pick up her phone and dial Ryleigh again to tell her it was all a horrible plan; a result of a little game of truth-or-dare, something grown men shouldn't be playing.

Her breathing was still deep. She was still stressed and had to recover and catch her breath a little bit until she could be completely all right.

Casey toddled over to her. "Da-da?" she asked.

"Yes, Casey, your da-da is alive. Nothing's wrong with him." Emma tried to smile.

* * *

**==Underground Temple, Saudi Arabia==**

Exo gloated on his throne as he thought about how he could retrieve the morphers from the Rangers. "Pathetic humans, they think they can just take the power that was once mine!" he spat. "Bring me my servants!" he yelled to the doormen.

The doorman ran to get one of his servants. "Great Exo, how may I serve you?" the servant asked.

"I was formerly over on the other side of this planet where I confronted the fools who took my treasure. They were unwilling to accept the consequences, so now I want a destructive attack on their coordinates." Exo demanded.

"I will take care of that issue promptly." the servant complied. "Anything else, my lord?"

"I think we still need some planning time with Operation Soviet Re-Union. A simple hostage situation won't scare humans. I say we destroy a building in Moscow." Exo suggested. "What do you think?" he asked.

"Destroy the Kremlin." the servant suggested.

"Yes, that is what we should do. Fetch my general, Sutekh, and tell him to terrorize the city of Moscow. Not to destroy it as it will be our capital, but just to terrorize it to the point where the humans surrender."

"I will do as you ask, my supreme lord." the servant bowed.

"Good." Exo said, relaxing in the comfort of his golden throne.

He picked up the golden-black bracelet that lay resting on the armrest of his throne and sifted his fingers through it. The power held within the bracelet would soon be shown to the world.

* * *

Nick led the team to the spot in the woods he was talking about, earlier. The guys rode there in Chase's car while the girls rode in Ryleigh's car. It took some work to get to the exact open spot Nick was talking about but they were still able to make it.

"It smells terrible!" Alli exclaimed, looking around at the various animal feces on the ground.

"So, this is your prime location?" Ryleigh asked, cutting through some low-lying shrubs and branches. "I guess it can work for now." she said.

"Ew, I think I might get tick bites." Kenzie groaned, sticking her tongue out.

Suddenly, Ryleigh's phone started to vibrate. "Excuse me for a minute." she said, walking off to answer her phone. "Hello?" she answered.

"Hey, Ryleigh, it's Emma. Raylan's not really dead; we were just pranked with that news. Sorry if that caused any inconvenience." Emma said.

Ryleigh took a sigh of relief. "Phew, that's good news. Anyways, the Rangers found a good spot to train." she said.

"Really? That's great! Anyways, I'll leave you guys to your training. See ya!" she chirped, hanging up the phone.

Ryleigh walked back to the Rangers. "So Raylan isn't really dead." she said.

The Rangers were still unaffected by the news. "Cool." Chase said, nonchalantly.

"Well, back to our training. I'm presuming by the news a few days ago that you guys have alread morphed." she said. "Well, did you get fully accustomed to your suits?" she asked.

Chase shook his head. "It was cool and comfy and everything, but it was also really confusing. I'm still not sure about the H.U.D. in my visor." he complained. "It's in heiroglyphics and makes no sense."

"Yeah, same with mine." Jake agreed. "I think we'll have to learn heiroglyphics before we ever get to use our powers." he groaned.

"Why don't you guys morph for me?" Ryleigh suggested. "Then, we can work on these problems."

Chase looked at his team. "You ready, guys?" he asked, receiving nods from his teammates. "Let's do this!"

"It's morphin' time!" they shouted, morphing into their suits.

"Wow! Your suits look incredible." Ryleigh complimented, pulled in mainly by the golden chrome trim. "They're a lot more complex than our suits."

"Yeah, but they make no sense." Alli complained.

"I think we should work on your combat before we get down to the small details." Ryleigh said. "Anyways, I'm going to have you all line up in front of a tree and try out some simple kicks and punches. We'll see how we're going to go from there." she suggested.

Ryleigh watched as the Rangers performed their signature attacks on the trees and evaluated each one's strong and weak points.

Chase was by far the best fighter on the team. He had strategy and his hits looked like they were precise and painful. No monster would be able to make one-on-one combat with him out alive. Ryleigh had chosen the perfect leader for this team.

Jake was the next best fighter on the team. Ryleigh decided that when Chase went overseas with Alli, Jake would be the second-in-command. His fighting style was close to Chase's, but his attacks were weaker. While Chase had the strength, Jake had the strategy.

Alli was the middle fighter. She wasn't as much of a priss as Ryleigh originally thought she was, but she wasn't as strong as Jake or Chase. Alli still appeared imtimidated to get into a fight but seemed like she would be able to hold out on her own if necessary.

Kenzie was next. She knew what she was doing, but appeared intimidated to get into a fight. It looked like she was more concerned about herself getting hurt than actually doing the hurting. She needed quite a bit of honing done with her skills.

Nick was the worst fighter on the team. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he had never been in a fight before. Fortunately, that's _why _Ryleigh had picked him. He had shown in school that he was determined and able to do anything that he put his mind into.

Ryleigh smiled as she watched the Rangers fight. It was going to be a fun ride.

* * *

**AS ALWAYS, DROPPIN' A REVIEW NEVER HURT :)**


	19. Harwood

_I hope what happens later on in this chapter doesn't confuse the hell out of you because it includes an edited version of Megaforce. I'm not really sure whether you guys would like it or not, but I have always wanted to incorporate the Megaforce Rangers since Energy Combat! So just go along with it :)_

_Anyways, on with the story!_

* * *

**==Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation==**

When Raylan's phone was reactivated by the government, he instantly went on to videochat his wife.

"Hey, honey!" he greeted her when he saw her log in.

"Hey, Raylan! Your stupid boss scared the shit out of me." she gasped. "I actually thought you were gone."

"He's an idiot, don't mind him." Raylan said, shaking his general off. "Anyways, what's going on?" he asked.

"For starters, Casey said _two words_. That's right, she said two words!" Emma exclaimed, flailing her arms around in excitement. "Do you know how awesome that is?"

"Yeah, that is pretty awesome." Raylan agreed. "So what were the two words?"

"Ma-ma and da-da." Emma answered.

"I would imagine she said da-da before she said ma-ma because I'm just that awesome." Raylan joked.

"Ha-ha, you're funny." Emma said, sarcastically. "Well, too bad, she said ma-ma first."

"Aww, darn it." Raylan chuckled. "So, are there any updates on the new Rangers?" he asked, getting straight to business.

"As far as I know, Ryleigh just got back from training them. She said there's a lot of work theys till need to do."

"Like what?"

"I hear that Chase, Jacob, and Allison are great fighters. Nicholas and McKenzie, on the other hand, could use some work."

Raylan nodded his head. "We can fix that." he said. "Anyways, there's something else I needed to talk to you about."

"What is it?" Emma asked.

"Well, based on my independent research of this so called 'threat', I can successfully infer that it is the most powerful thing our planet has ever seen. I kept a few particles of its remains and tried analyzing it myself and it is made of some weird type of armor. This is nothing that both of our Ranger teams can fight off together."

"So are you saying that we need more Rangers?" she asked.

"Essentially, yes I am." Raylan answered. "Do you remember that base we built quite a distance from Smalltown in case there were any attacks?" Raylan asked.

Emma thought for a minute before remembering the hideout she built in Harwood with the rest of the Rangers. "Oh yeah! The one in Harwood County?"

"Yeah, well I'll need you to activate it."

"How do I do that?"

"Use the mic on your morpher and then tell Gadget-X to activate the base."

"Why can't you?"

"Because there isn't much I can connect to when I'm all the way in Russia." Raylan said.

Emma groaned loudly. "Ugh, Gadget-X is at Ryleigh's house right now, can't you just ask her to do it?"

"Well, I would, but I'm talking to you right now, so can you please do it?" Raylan asked.

"Fine." Emma mumbled. "Anyways, I'm off to go do your _dirty work_." she chuckled. "Bye, love you!" she chirped, blowing him a kiss.

"Bye, love you too!" he said back, hanging up the videochat session.

He jumped into bed and felt good for once. Things were about to take a turn for the better for once.

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Emma pushed down on her morpher and called Gadget-X.

"Hello, Emma Westbrook." the robot answered. "What service would you like performed?" he asked.

"Do you remember that base we created from scratch in Harwood?"

"Of course I do."

"Can you please activate it?"

"Yes I can. How would you like the Power Rangers picked out for the job?"

"Give them the ol' database treatment."

"Will do, activating G.O.S.E.I. this moment."

"Gosei?" Emma asked.

"Geological Orbiting Satellite Entity Intelligence. G-O-S-E-I. Gosei." the robot answered.

"What does that do?"

"It acts as the mentor and guardian for the Rangers. It will come in handy. I will also activate T.E.N.S.O.U."

"Tensou?"

"Tyler and Emma - Not Shane Or the Uthers."

"Why did we name it that?" Emma asked, completely confused.

"Because you and Tyler spent weeks designing the robot without help from anyone else, especially not Shane." Gadget-X reminded her.

"Oh yeah, well do what you gotta do." she said, hanging up the morpher.

* * *

**==Harwood County, California, United States==**

Deep in a cave off of an island in California, techology everywhere started to light up. Gosei woke from the hibernation state that the Energy Rangers previously put him in.

"I an Gosei - Geological Orbiting Satellite Entity Intelligence." it said as per typical power-on quotes.

Tensou was powered on, as well. "Tensou - Tyler and Emma - Not Shane Or the Uthers." it said, as per its typical power-on quote.

"Tensou, we are finally in power. Run the databases and search for new Power Rangers. The world needs them."

"Yes, Gosei." the robot said, turning on the supercomputer in the room.

"Also, download mission data."

"Pronto." the robot said, working on the computer. "Data downloaded!" Tensou exclaimed, rolling around the room.

"Let me see it." Gosei said, looking at the screen Tensou opened up.

The screen contained images and videos of five teenagers. Troy Burrows was a teenage master in martial arts and had the discipline to be the leader of the Rangers. Jake Holling was an athletic wizard known for his swift skills and agility on the soccer field. Gia Moran was a fierce girl who was known for being able to stand her ground and stick up for herself. Noah Carver was a tech guru known for developing websites and mechanics to make his life easier. Emma Goodall was an environmentalist freak who would stop at nothing to save the Earth from its imminent destruction.

"Well, this will get confusing." Tensou said.

"Why?" Gosei asked.

"Because one of the former Rangers is named Emma and one of the current Rangers is named Jake."

"Oh well, bring them in!" Gosei exclaimed, waiting for Tensou to teleport the teenagers. Eventually, four of the teenagers: Troy Burrows, Noah Carver, Jake Holling, and Gia Moran were teleported into Gosei's hideout. The latter three were having some frozen yogurt at Ernie's BrainFreeze while the former was training martial arts atop a building.

Noah and Jake were best friends since kindergarten. As they grew and developed through puberty, they each took different interests. Jake had a much more intense feeling towards girls while Noah kept himself quiet and reserved.

Troy was the new kid in town. As a result, he was a loner and tried to stay that way. He had been severely bullied by kids at his old school in the past, leading up to his training in martial arts.

Gia was a fairly attractive girl. Any guy would say that she was the hottest teenage girl in town. Despite her status among the guys, she never went out on dates with any of them. Like Chase, she was tired of the attention she received. It was hard for her to walk through one hallway without receiving those dreamy stares.

"What's going on?" Troy asked, taking a good look around the room.

"Welcome humans." a terrifying voice echoed through the chamber, startling the teenagers. "I am Gosei, your lives are about to change forever." Gosei said, revealing his name. "I have been bestowed with the role of serving as the guardian of this planet by my creators."

"Guardian?" Troy asked.

"I only awaken when the Earth is faced with an extraordinary threat." Gosei answered.

"Uhh, whoever you are, you look like something on one of my dad's Hawaii'an shirts." Jake taunted. Nobody laughed.

Gosei shook his comment off. "I took this form to communicate with humans. This is a perilous time for mankind; the Earth needs you." he told the confused teenagers.

"What are you talking about?" Gia asked, somewhat intimidated.

"A threat has been detected under the depths of the Earth and you have been chosen to work alongside another set of Power Rangers to fight it off."

"Power Rangers...like the ones that were in Smalltown a decade ago?" Troy asked.

"A giant talking tiki and now Power Rangers?" Jake laughed. "You've got to be kidding me."

Out of nowhere, the fifth teenager, Emma Goodall, teleported into the room. "He's not kidding." she said, lying on the floor.

Gia helped Emma up. "Emma? You're mixed up in this too?" she asked, wiping some dirt off of Emma.

Gia and Emma were best friends who grew up with each other since elementary school. As such, it wasn't a rare thing to find the two constantly together and telling each other secrets. Their favorite pasttime was BMXing into the woods, which mostly Emma took pride in doing.

"I saw this...before...whatever just happened." Emma replied, holding up a picture she took of an intimidating monster.

Gia looked at Gosei. "What gives? This can't be real." she groaned.

"Your skepticism is healthy, but this is all too real. You have been carefully selected to form a team of Power Rangers as a result of your astounding qualities. Tensou, show them." he said, calling in a small robot much resembling Gadget-X out from the dark.

"Oh yes, on screen! Activated!" the robot said, buzzing around.

Five screens lit up. The screen in front of Emma was the first. "Emma, you're not only a great BMX cyclist, but you also truly care about the environment. You go to great lengths to take care of it. You shall soar up from the flames like a Phoenix and be the Pink Ranger."

"Pink is my favorite color, but what's this Ranger deal?" she asked, only or her question to be ignored.

The screen by Noah was activated next. "Noah, your thirst for knowledge is unequaled; our future depends on the work of great scientific minds like yours. As the Blue Ranger, your attacks will bite with the force of a Shark."

The third screen to light up was next to Jake. "There is no one with the boundless athleticism and enthusiasm to match you, Jake. I am making you the Black Ranger, who will fight with the stealth of a Snake."

The yellow screen next to Gia lit up and Jake couldn't help but attempt a closer look. "Then there is Gia. You are calm under pressure and pursue excellence with the ferocity of a Tiger. You will be the Yellow Ranger."

The final screen to light up was by Troy. "As for you, Troy, your purity of spirit and strength are the result of incredible discipline. Since you have met adversity in your life with great skill, you shall be the Red Ranger, and like the Dragon, you will serve as the team's leader."

Troy shuffled his hands in his pockets. "There must be some mistake here, I'm new in town." Troy mumbled, looking nervously at the group of teenagers.

Gosei denied Troy's complaint. "_There is no mistake_. You have been chosen because of your skills _and_ your character." Gosei said

Five gadgets appeared in mid-air in front of the teenagers. They cautiously grabbed their respective morpher from their floating state.

"Those are your morphers. With them, you will morph into Power Rangers. You will wield Power Cards that will unlock special weapons and abilities, and, you shall command mighty machines called Megaaords."

Noah still didn't understand anything. "Morphers? Power Cards? Megazords? All this tech, how do we use it?" he asked, waving his morpher around.

"All will be revealed in time." Gosei answered.

"If the earth is under attack, and you think we're the ones to protect it, we're in!" Troy exclaimed, huddling his team in.

"Your mission is in accordance with the Rangers of Palisade." Tensou said.

"Palisade? Isn't that a city in North Carolina?" Noah asked.

Tensou shrugged his metallic 'shoulders'. "Yes it is, but who am I to come up with these missions?"

Gia shook her head. "What do you want us to do over there? You can't just expect us to pack our bags and leave." she groaned.

"You are correct, we do not expect you to do that." Gosei's booming voice answered. "We wll provice your school with an assignment allowing you to take an 'educational trip' over there. Then, you will proceed with your mission."

"We don't even know what our mission is, you bumbling tiki head." Jake chuckled, earning him a hard punch on the arm by Gia.

"Shut it." she growled.

Gosei wasn't sure how to answer Jake's statement. "We can't provide you with any information so far as there is none to be provided. As of now, you must blend in with the kids in the area and keep your identities a secret until there is an attack. Then you will work with the Rangers of Palisade to put a stop to it." Gosei tried answering.

"Umm...wouldn't it look suspicious if the only five kids to go there are the Power Rangers?" Emma asked.

"That is why we have compiled a list of twenty students to accompany you on this trip and further blend you in." Gosei answered.

"Is that it?" Troy asked.

"No, we are going to have two of you go overseas with two of the Palisade Rangers. We haven't decided who, but you will find out eventually."

"_Now _is that it?" Troy asked again.

"Yes, that is all the information I can provide you. Goodbye." Gosei ultimately said, teleporting the Rangers back to the BrainFreeze.

Tensou groaned in his robotic voice. "I don't think they really got the idea of their mission." he said.

"They will in time, Tensou."

* * *

**==Underground Temple, Saudi Arabia==**

"Exo! Exo!" one of the servants shouted, running into the emperor's room.

"What do you want?" Exo boomed. "Can't you see I'm enjoying myself?" he asked, trying to relax on his throne.

"We have detected energy signals coming from another region in the United States!" it exclaimed.

"What? That's impossible! We only created twelve color capsules; I have two with me, five are deactivated, and five were put into human use! What is going on?" he asked, jumping out of his throne.

"It appears that it's something we haven't created. This new energy signal is coming from the other side of the country."

"What part?"

"I believe the area is called Carlifornia, sir."

Exo placed his hand on his chin. "This is an outrage! Send troops there this isntant!" he commanded, storming out of the throne room along with his servant.

* * *

**AS ALWAYS, DROPPIN' A REVIEW NEVER HURT :)**


	20. Sutekh

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Chase had trouble concentrating in school the next day. He felt so pumped inside of his Ranger Suit that all he wanted to do was morph into it. He would occasionally accidentally start doodling his suit on his notebooks when the teachers weren't looking. He was the least excited one to be a Power Rangers, but it appeared that he was now the most excited one. While he hadn't played hero in his Ranger Suit yet, he couldn't wait to get started.

He looked up at the clock and saw that he only had a few more minutes left until the school day ended. The last few minutes of school were usually the most chaotic with studens spacing out, only thinking about what they would do once they arrived home. Chase wanted to jump out of his seat and meet up with the other Rangers so they could go out and train. While Ryleigh wasn't available to mentor them, they could still help each other with different styles of combat.

Through the window on the classroom door, he could see Nick standing outside his classroom. Nick's last period teacher was usually comfortable with letting students leave a few minutes early based on their performance in the class. Since Nick was one of the smarter students, he was always granted permission to leave class. Nick waved at Chase through the window, drawing Chase's envy.

Finally, the bell rang and Chase was able to scurry out of class. "Hey, Nick!" he greeted, walking off to Nick's locker with him.

"What's up, Chase?" Nick asked.

"Nothin' much, just the usual."

"Are you doing anything today?" Nick asked.

"No, I'm not." Chase replied.

"Well, I kinda wanna go over to the woods to train a bit. I definitely need a lot of work." he said, nervously, scratching his head.

Chase chuckled. "To be honest, you kinda do. So yeah, I can get all of the others to come out to the woods."

"Awesome! Be there in about half an hour!" Nick exclaimed when they were finally outside the school. "Don't be late!" Nick shouted, spotting his car and running over to his it.

Chase walked in the opposite direction to get to his own car. "Yeah, I won't!" he shouted back, stepping into his car to get home and change into his workout clothes.

* * *

Jake was in a bathroom stall taking his daily dump while browsing through his smartphone. Most of the days after school he wasn't able to hold his urge to let it all out. As a result, he sometimes lost track of time.

Eventually, he found himself lost on YouTube, watching viral cat videos. Suddenly, his phone vibrated in his hand. He shrieked as an instantaneous reaction and read the text message. "_where r u!? weve been callin u 4 so long! get over to the woods this instant!_" the message from Chase said.

Jake immediately finished up and rushed out of the bathroom. He almost accidentally bumped into Shayla on the way to his car.

"Hey, Jake!" she chirped, hugging her boyfriend.

"Listen, I would love to talk, but I'm in a _huge _rush right now." he said, trying to skip past her.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Jake couldn't tell her where he was really headed. "I have to go home...we're...umm...having guests over." he lied.

"But...your parents said that nothing important was going on this week..." Shayla said, narrowing her eyes. "Are you lying to me?" she asked.

"Yes, I _am _lying to you, but it's something I can't tell you about."

"Oh, and why is that?"

"Because I can't."

"Are you cheating on me?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"No! I would never do that! It's just...this is something I want to keep private." he mumbled.

Shayla shook her head and eventually smiled. "Fine...whatever...go have fun." she said.

"Thanks, baby." he replied, hugging her and kissing her on the cheek.

She waved him goodbye and watched him run to his car.

* * *

**==Harwood County, California, United States==**

Because the different time zones between North Carolina and California, the Harwood Rangers still had a few more hours left of school. They still didn't get to know each other well because of the situation they were randomly thrown into.

Gia tried her level best to look like nothing was bothering her. Over the years of constantly dealing with abusive boys who wanted her body, she had to learn to bite the bullet. Eventually, she developed a great skill of keeping a poker face on all the time. Sometimes, even Emma wasn't able to tell that Gia was bothered. This time, however, she was.

Emma knew that Gia was anxious and wanted her old life back. Emma knew that Gia wasn't ready for what was about to happen. Emma herself wasn't ready, which meant that she couldn't help Gia in any way. Emma was probably the most stressed of the group and showed her stress to the entire school. While nobody knew what was stressing her, it was highly evident that she was stressed.

Jake was excited. All he could think about was the girls. He was much like the Jake of Palisade in that he wanted to come out as a superhero so badly to the world, even though he knew he couldn't. The first thing he thought about was using this Ranger mission to get close to Gia. He had been pining for her for so long and this was his chance to finally get close to her.

Noah was terrified. He had never been in a single fight in his life and he sure as hell wasn't ready to fight off giant armies of monsters. He had been thrown into a position that he didn't want and he had no say in whether or not he wanted the job. The only thing he ever wanted in life was to be the world's top programmer, but now he would have to be the world's top fighter, instead.

Troy was the only one who wasn't too stressed about it. He like to play it calm, knowing that when things were taking way out of proportion, they usually ended badly. Since he was rigorously trained in martial arts, he knew what he had to do and how he had to fight. He wasn't completely clueless when it came to defending himself and could easily hold his own in battle.

He couldn't keep his head up in Mr. Burley's class. That was the one class he had with the other four Rangers, but they still didn't try to sit next to each other. Troy sat in the back, Gia and Emma were in the front, and Jake and Noah were by the window.

"All right, guys, I'm going to assign you group projects." Mr. Burley said. "I want you all in groups of five or six and I want you to collect data on different types of dinosaurs from the past. Then, you will have to present to the class what life would have been like living with your group's dinosaur." he announced, earning groans from the entire room. "It's not that hard, guys. I will let you pick groups, but I will assign you the dinosaur. So group up and get to work!"

Troy got up and walked over to Jake and Noah. "Hey, guys, let's group up." he said, affirmatively.

Jake and Noah awkwardly nodded. "Yeah, sure." Jake muttered, standing up.

"I'm fine with that." Noah said, standing up as well.

The three of them looked over to Emma and Gia. Since Gia was easily the most attractive girl in the school, it was no surprise that every guy in the class would be over her.

Jake groaned. "Gia already has a group." he said, sitting back down.

When it all appeared hopeless, Gia marched over to Jake's desk with Emma, putting down the soul of every other guy in the classroom. "I'm choosing to partner up with you guys _only _because we're going to need to get to know each other."

"_Yes!_" Jake whispered to Noah, who returned him a dirty glare.

Gia narrowed her eyes and looked at Jake. "Don't think for one second this is some opportunity to take advantage of me. I just want a group project done and I'm not going to let your stupid 'shenanigans' get in the way of my 100%. Comprendes?" she asked, sitting down in an empty seat by Jake.

"Yeah, whatever." he answered, looking out the window.

The group was awkward. "So, should we start?" Emma suggested.

"We can't really start if Mr. Burley hasn't even given us our dinosaur." Noah replied.

Just in time, Mr. Burley walked over to them. "Is this your group?" he asked, earning nods from the five of them. "Okay, you will be assigned the brachiosaurus. Get to work." he affirmed, walking away.

"_Now _we can start." Emma said, looking to Noah.

"I'll go grab a textbook." Gia groaned, walking over to the pile of textbooks on Mr. Burley's desk. As she walked past a group of six nerdy boys, she realized that they were all looking at her ass. She turned around and growled at them, scaring them back into doing their own work.

Jake shook his head. "Those guys are dicks." he said, still trying not to make eye contact with the others.

Emma shook her head, as well. "Shut up, Jake, I know if you were a part of that group, you'd be doing that, too." she hissed.

Jake put his hands up. "Relax, I didn't say anything." he defended himself.

"_Yeah _you did..." Emma bit back.

Troy raised his eyebrows as he watched everything unfold. When Gia came to sit down, everything turned awkward. Everytime Jake glanced over to look at Gia, Emma would give him a nasty glare. When Emma gave Jake a nasty glare, Noah would give her an awkward smile, trying to make things better.

Troy ultimately decided that they were getting nowhere with this project. "Okay, you know what? Why don't we just start over? This awkwardness isn't helping us all in any way, shape, or form." he barked.

The other four nodded. "You're right." Emma agreed. "Shall we start over?" she offered.

"Yeah, whatever..." Jake grumbled.

Troy smiled when he realized that things might get straightened out. "So, should we go over to Ernie's later on today to work on this?" he asked.

The rest of the team tried not to make eye contact with him. "Yeah, that's fine." Noah mumbled.

"Okay, this _needs _to work out." Troy whispered. "If we have to work as a team for however long we do, we have to get to know each other, okay?"

"Who says I have to get to know any of you?" Gia snapped, contrasting everything she had said earlier when grouping up with the boys. "I can keep as much of my personal life away from you dorks as I want." Noah couldn't keep himself from chuckling. "What do you want, nerd boy?" Gia barked.

Noah held his arms up. "Nothing. I didn't say anything." he defended. He wanted to tell Gia that she was being hypocritical, but he didn't want his throat ripped out.

Troy groaned and slapped his hand onto his face. This was going to take a long time.

* * *

**==Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation==**

Raylan was awakened by the sound of vicious tapping on his hotel window. He slothed out of bed and opened it up, screaming as he saw the monster that was on the other side.

"Surprised?" the monster hissed, leaping into Raylan's room.

Raylan tried to hurt it by throwing his water bottle at it. "Die, you foul beast!" Raylan shouted.

"Shut up! Who dares talk back to the mighty Sutekh?" he asked.

"No, you shut up! You sound like some stupid monster from a children's movie." Raylan taunted. "_Who dares talk back to the mighty Sutekh?_" Raylan mimicked.

That pushed Sutekh's buttons. "That's it! You'll regret this decision!" the monster roared, flying out into the night sky.

"Oh no, I won't!" Raylan exclaimed, jumping out of his window in pursuit of it.

* * *

**AS ALWAYS, DROPPIN' A REVIEW NEVER HURT :)**


	21. Brachiosaurus

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

It was late evening and the Rangers were morphed and were going hard on their training. Since Chase was easily the best fighter, he was the one teaching moves to the other Rangers.

Nick didn't seem to understand anything well. He had never been in a fight before and had only learned what a 'roundhouse kick' was, much to the others' surprise.

Chase was trying to teach Nick how to dodge and counter a punch. "Get low when the punch flies at you and try to spin kick the assailant's legs." Chase tried instructing him.

'Uhh...what?" Nick asked, zoning out.

Chase facepalmed and walked over to face Nick. "Okay, say I'm attacking you, right?"

Nick nodded his head. "Okay, so you're my opponent." he said.

Chase placed his fist in front of Nick's face. "Pretend I'm about to punch you. Now what do you do?" he asked.

Nick got low on the ground to dodge the hit. "I'm low, now how do I 'spin kick'?" he asked, crouching on the ground.

Chase facepalmed. "What does it sound like? You spin, and then you kick."

Nick was still confused. "Okay, I'll give it a try." he said, twirling his body with his leg sticking out.

Chase tripped and fell onto the ground. "Good job! Now you know how to counter a punch." he congratulated. "Sadly, there's still a _lot _that you're going to need to work on."

Nick groaned. "Ugh, I hate fighting. Why couldn't they have just made us control massive weapons or something?" he complained.

"They do make us control massive weapons. Those massive weapons are these suits we're wearing." Chase said.

Nick looked over at the rest of the Rangers. "Don't you guys need to train, too?" he asked them.

Jake shook his head. "I already get this stuff. I think the only other two here that could use some help are Kenzie and Alli." he said. They both glared at him. "What? Just kiddin'..." he joked, trying to play it off.

"All jokes aside, Kenzie and Alli _do _need some training." Chase agreed.

A brilliant idea popped up in Kenzie's head. "Chase, why don't you let Jake and Nick help me out while you help Alli out?" she suggested.

She was trying to get to the idea that Chase and Alli were destined to be. Over the past few days, she had found every way possible to get them together and watch how they interacted.

Chase shrugged his shoulders awkwardly. "Yeah, sure." he said.

Alli raised her eyebrows. "Uhh...well...okay..." she said, playing with hair.

Jake and Nick took Kenzie over to one part of the woods. "This is way too funny." Nick laughed. "How much do you wanna bet they'll start making out halfway through their training?" he asked.

Kenzie giggled. "Yeah, this is hilarious. Let's just see how things work out..."

* * *

Emma brought Casey over to Ryleigh's house so she could play with Alissa. Casey and Alissa were becoming quick friends as they were often with each other due to the friendship that their mothers shared.

Emma rang the doorbell and waited for Ryleigh to answer. She opened the door holding Alissa. "Hey, Emma!" she said, letting her friend in.

Emma walked around and took a seat on the couch. "Hey, Ryleigh." she said, putting her daughter down to play with Alissa. "So, how's the whole Ranger thing going for you?" she asked.

Ryleigh sighed. "It's all right. I'm not free that often so it's really hard to make time to help them out. Chase is a much better fighter than he, though, and I think he'll be able to help them more than I will." she said.

Emma chuckled. "Just like when we were Rangers; Raylan and Shane were the only ones who actually knew what they were doing." she added.

Johnny was in the kitchen washing dishes. "I heard that!" he shouted.

Emma laughed. "You know it's true!" she laughed.

"Whatever you say." Johnny squawked. When he was done with the dishes, he walked into the living room and took a seat.

"Anyways, let's get down to business." Emma urged. "I activated the base in Harwood."

Johnny and Ryleigh were both blank. "Why'd you do that?" they asked, in unison.

"I thought you knew since Gadget-X was over here, but I did it because Raylan told me to."

"What was his reasoning?" Ryleigh asked.

"He said that there was no way our two teams could fight off this menace."

Johnny was confused. "We're a team of eight Rangers plus another set of five. Why do we need five more?" he asked.

"I have no idea, ask Raylan." Emma replied. "He said these monsters are way too strong for the thirteen of us to take care of. I still don't exactly know what he was talking about but I'm just going with it."

Johnny shrugged his shoulders. "Well, he is the one that works for the government..."

"So, do you have any idea who the Rangers are?" Ryleigh asked.

Emma shrugged her shoulders. "I have no idea who the Rangers are. I was hoping that I could talk to Gadget-X and find out, but he's busy filtering his tanks or something."

Ryleigh chuckled. "Oh yeah, if you go down to the basement you can hear him cleaning them out, it sounds like a truck."

Emma looked at the baby girls play and babble together. While Casey could still only say 'ma-ma' and 'da-da', Alissa could say more complex words such as 'toy', 'tv', and 'dora'.

"How long did it take for Alissa to be able to speak?" Emma asked.

Ryleigh shrugged her shoulders. "I remember she said 'yes' a few weeks ago, but I can't remember the exact date." she said.

Emma couldn't take her eyes off the girls. "Gosh, our girls are so cute." she said.

Ryleigh smiled and looked at the girls, as well. "You couldn't have been more right." she agreed.

* * *

**==Harwood County, California, United States==**

Jake and Gia waited patiently at Ernie's BrainFreeze for the others to show up. While Jake wanted to talk to Gia so badly, he couldn't find any possible way to start a conversation with her. He was completely clueless about her interests and he was sure she wasn't interested in soccer; that left him with absolutely nothing to talk about. It didn't seem like she was willing to carry out a conversation, either.

"So..." Jake said, trying to start something. He was rather looking at the text on his half-drank milkshake cup than at her.

"So what?" she asked, coldly, looking at her milkshake cup as well.

"This project..." he muttered, finally glancing up at her. She gave him a confused look. "As in, do you know what to do?" he asked, trying to clarify his previous statement.

"Of course I know what to do. You should know what to do, tool. Mr. Burley literally gave us the instructions a few hours ago." she barked. "So I suggest you do your part of the project rather than talk to me about nonsense. Understand?" she asked.

Jake held his hands up defensively. "Sorry, Gia..." he apologized, sipping on his milkshake.

When things couldn't have gotten more awkward, Emma finally walked into the BrainFreeze. "Oh my gosh, I couldn't wait any longer..." Gia whispered.

Emma took a seat by Gia. "Hey, Gia!" she said, giving her friend a hug. Then, she gave Jake a weird look. "Oh, hey..." she mumbled.

Jake was as enthusiastic as she was. "Yeah...hey..." he mumbled, as well.

"Oh my gosh! You're not going to believe what happened today!" Emma exclaimed.

Gia smiled. "What happened?" she asked.

Jake groaned as he listened to Emma and Gia gossip about boys and other non-school related nonsense. When Noah walked in, Jake let out a huge sigh of relief, earning him glares from Emma and Gia.

Gia rolled her eyes. "Listen, if you didn't want to work with us, why didn't you just tell us?" she asked.

Jake shook his head. "It's not that...it's just..."

"It's just what?"

"Gia, stop it..."

When Noah took a seat, he could tell things were getting tense. "Where's Troy?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood. When nobody answered, he asked again. "So, where's Troy at?"

"Not here..." Emma mumbled.

Noah raised his eyebrows. "So, should we start working?" he suggested, getting out some writing utensils.

Emma pulled out her laptop from her backpack. "I'll do some research. It's called a brachiosaurus, right?" she asked, opening up Google.

Gia nodded her head and took a sip out of her milkshake. "Yeah..." she said, staring off.

Jake sighed. "Gia, I'm sorry..." he apologized. She didn't respond. He looked to Noah. "Do you have Troy's number?" he asked.

Noah shook his head. "No, I don't. One of you should, right?" he asked around the table.

The rest of them shook their heads. "I don't think he'd vouch to give anyone his number." Emma said. "He's kind of a loner."

Noah looked over at Emma's computer screen. "It says here that the brachiosaurus had nostrils above its head." Noah read straight off of a website Emma was on.

Emma nodded. "Wow, that's incredible." she admired.

Noah continued reading. "It also says that an average brachiosaurus was about 40-50 feet tall!" he exclaimed.

Troy finally walked into the BrainFreeze and took a seat. "So, what kind of progress are we making, here?" he asked.

Noah looked up at Troy. "Well, we're just getting the basic information down. Emma found a great website here." he said, turning the computer to face Troy.

"I was talking about friendship building." Troy corrected. "Is everyone getting along all right?" he asked.

Emma nodded. "Yeah, we're getting along super."

Noah nodded as well. "Yeah, I agree."

Jake and Gia slowly nodded. "Sure..." they both groaned.

Troy raised his eyebrows. "Are they all right?" he asked.

"Never been better." Jake replied.

"Great." Gia replied.

Troy shrugged their responses off. "So, this project is due tomorrow. What are we going to present?" he asked.

Emma looked at the computer screen. "Well, they're herbivores who can reach plants up to 50-feet tall. They breathe from nostrils on the top of their heads. They had a giraffe-like neck." she answered.

"Fun fact: the first fossils were discovered in Colorado." Noah added. "Isn't that cool."

Troy nodded. "Yeah, that is pretty cool." he agreed, reading along with Emma and Noah.

Jake and Gia were still sitting awkwardly, sipping their milkshakes. Neither one of them had any input on the project. While Gia was easily one of the smartest kids in the class, she didn't want to open her mouth in fear that Jake would sexualize her every word.

Jake didn't want to say anything to make Gia think anything worse of him. Since they were grouped up, she already had a bad opinion of him, and he didn't want it to get any worse.

* * *

**==Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation==**

Moscow was a madhouse. Since Sutekh had appeared, he brought nothing but destruction to the city. Buildings were on fire and small structures such as streetlights were knocked down.

Raylan ran through the city in his Ranger Suit, trying to chase the serpentine pest around. The Russian army even showed up to help, but Sutekh's hard skin-armour held them to a standstill.

Eventually, Raylan was able to catch up to him and halt him. "Sutekh!" he called out. "Come over here!"

The serpent floated down to Raylan. "What do you want, human?" he asked.

"Tell me what you're doing!" Raylan demanded.

"Or what?"

"Or I'll kill the shit out of you!" he shouted.

Sutekh thought for a few seconds. "Well, it wouldn't hurt to tell you where I'm headed, since you won't be able to stop me, anyways. I'm headed to Zone C of Novaya Zemlya." Sutekh said, flying off.

Raylan tried chasing after it. "Wait! Why!?" he shouted, trying to get an answer.

When the beast left, Raylan turned around to face the destroyed section of Moscow. There were firetrucks and helicopters everywhere, trying to cover the scene. The media was already there, doing their job.

"_Wait! Why?_" Raylan's words echoed in his head. Things were starting to come together.

It was way too sketchy.

* * *

**AS ALWAYS, DROPPIN' A REVIEW NEVER HURT :)**


	22. Nuclear Powers

**==Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation==**

When Raylan got to his hotel room, he immediately pulled out his phone and used the FaceTime app to videochat to his wife.

After a minute of buffering, she finally picked up. "Raylan?" she answered.

"Hey, Emma."

"What's going on? Any new updates?" she asked. She was groggy and tired.

"Check the news, Moscow is a _mess_."

Emma sloppily fumbled the TV remote and turned it on her room. "Wow, this is crazy." she said, staring into the TV.

"I know, right? They even have 'documented evidence' of a Power Ranger within the vicinity of Moscow."

Emma chuckled. "Really? Is that supposed to be you?" she said, looking at the blurry pictures in the corner of the screen that was supposed to be Raylan's Ranger Suit.

"Yeah, that's supposed to be me. Anyways, there's a massive update."

"What is it?"

"Well, the monster that is responsible for all this mess is flying over to Zone C of Novaya Zemlya." Raylan said, urgently.

Emma stared blankly. "Uhh...I have no idea who or what that is." she answered.

Raylan facepalmed. "Novaya Zemlya is a Russian archipelago quite to the north. Zone C of the area is where the Russians tested the Tsar Bomba, the single most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated on this planet. In fact, they had to cut the power down by 50% so there wouldn't be substantial damage." he informed her.

Emma was confused. "But, why would a monster go to a nuclear wasteland?"

"Don't you get it?" Raylan asked. "It's no coincidence that these monsters have been targeting former Soviet states. They have been _informed _of this by somebody above them. Back during the Cold War, nuclear technology was all a nation needed to be considered a superpower. The Soviet Union had the highest concentration of nuclear weapons."

Emma started to get it. "Wait a minute...so these monsters want their hands on nuclear weapons?"

"Bingo!" Raylan exclaimed. "Which means that they don't have enough power alone to defeat our race."

"So what?"

"I'm sure our government has some sort of nuclear plan. We need to put that into use."

"But none of this still makes any sense."

"I know, but we have to go with what we know."

"Why did the monster give you so much information?" Emma asked, suspiciously.

"It was taunting me with the fact that I couldn't do anything about it."

"Well, can you?"

"Unfortunately, I can't."

Emma groaned. "This is pretty much a failed effort."

"I know." Raylan muttered. "Actually, I'll be coming back on Monday with the other Rangers. They're coming to Russia today, right?" Raylan asked.

Emma nodded. "Yeah, that's the plan."

"Tell Gadget-X that he needs to find some anti-nuclear armour or something."

"Okay."

"Also, how are our Harwood Rangers going?" he asked.

"Gadget-X says that they assigned the school with a project to bring them over here as transfer students. If all goes well, we should have a massive team or Rangers. We'll pretty much be unstoppable."

"Wow, that's crazy. Anyways, is our baby girl up?" he asked.

Emma chuckled. "Raylan, it's midnight. There's no way in _hell _that our little girl is gonna be up." she smiled.

Raylan scratched his head. "Yeah, well, tell her I said goodnight." he said, blowing his wife a kiss.

She blew him one back. "See ya! I love you!" she chirped.

"I love you, too!" he exclaimed, hanging up the video chat.

He jumped in bed and looked at his morpher. With his work, there was about to be a massive army of Power Rangers at their disposal.

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

When school opened up, Chase had to bring his suitcases over to the storage room. Since it was Friday, the group would be leaving for Russia immediately afterschool. Chase didn't know any Russian, but the entire group was assured that were would be a translator.

Chase rushed to Alli's locker and found her stowing away her belongings. "Hey, Alli!" he said, walking over to her.

She turned around to face him. "What's up?" she asked.

Chase took a good look at Alli's pink sundress. "Wow, you look stunning today."

She blushed. "Thanks!" she squealed, trying to hide her rosy red cheeks.

"You know what day it is, right?" Chase asked.

Alli groaned. "Yeah, we have to go to Russia today. Did you bring your suitcases?"

"Yeah, I put them in the storage room. Did you?"

Alli nodded. "Mmhm, they're all snug and secure." she smiled.

Chase put his mouth by Alli's ear. "You brought your Morpher, right?" he whispered.

Alli nodded. "Of course! Why are you asking me, though?"

"Because there was an attack on Moscow!" Chase exclaimed.

Alli raised her eyebrows. "What!? Are you serious!?"

"Yeah, downtown Moscow is a mess. Raylan's down there."

"Is he really?"

"Yeah. I _wonder _why we're going to Moscow for this 'project', now..." Chase said, suspiciously.

Alli shook her head. "Wow, this is so stupid. I actually thought we were going to do something exciting. Instead, we're just being Rangers."

"Hey, you can't call it boring, yet, we've never been in a real fight before!"

Alli groaned. "Yeah, how come these monsters haven't come to hunt us down, yet? You'd think they knew where we were..."

"Yeah, I know _exactly _how you feel. I kinda want some sort of rush, but nothing has happened yet. Didn't Ryleigh tell us a while back that the Smalltown Rangers got into action right when they got their powers?"

"Mmhm, it's almost been a whole week and nothing has happened in boring old Palisade. Why can't we just be attacked?"

Chase smirked. "Now, you wouldn't want to say something like that too soon."

"Why?"

"You know, because you never know what might make you eat your own words."

Alli playfully smacked Chase on his arm. "Oh, shut up and stop ruining things for me."

Chase stuck his tongue out. "Isn't that what I'm for?" he smiled.

* * *

The bell for first block to end rang and Kenzie met up with Jake and Nick at Nick's locker.

"Hey, guys!" she greeted, walking over to them.

"Hey, Kenzie!" they replied in unison.

"So, how's 'Operation Chase and Allli' going?" she asked.

"I didn't stay to watch them train together." Nick said. "However, I saw them talking to each other this morning. They were getting _really _close to each other, if you know what I mean."

Kenzie chuckled. "That's funny, I'm telling you they're destined to be together."

"Aren't they going to Russia today?" Jake asked.

Kenzie nodded her head. "I think so. Chase said that they would have to leave Friday afterschool and come back early Monday morning."

"Did you hear about the attack on Moscow?" Nick asked.

"I'm pretty sure everyone did." Jake replied. "It's been going around everywhere. There's pretty much no safe haven."

"Wait a minute...isn't Raylan in Moscow?" Nick asked.

"I don't know..." Kenzie and Jake both replied.

"Well, they showed clips of the attack and I could swear I could make out his Ranger Suit."

"Are you sure?" Kenzie asked.

"Yeah, I'm positive."

"Wait a minute..." Jake realized. "So this entire foreign trip thing is...a front for a Ranger mission!" he exclaimed.

Nick nodded slowly. "That's what it looks like to me." he answered.

Jake facepalmed. "Wow, so they get in on the action and we have to stay here? Wow what a load of bull-" he was cut off by a glaring teacher walking by. "Sorry..." he whispered.

* * *

**==Harwood County, California, United States==**

Finally, it was the Rangers' turn to present their project to Mr. Burley's class. They were originally designated to be the second group to go, but Emma felt nervous and made the group present last.

Noah proudly brought the board up to the front of the room. Most of the research was his work, most of the design was Emma's work, and most of the coordination was Troy's work. Jake and Gia kept to themselves the entire time they were at the BrainFreeze.

"So, our project was on the brachiosaurus." Troy began. "First of all, to get a size comparison, imagine ten versions of you stacked onto each other. That's barely shorter than the height of a brachiosaurus." he said, earning 'oohs' and 'aahs' from the class.

"The brachiosaurus had its nostrils on the top of its head, just above the eyes." Noah announced. "It's currently unknown why and the topic is still up for debate, but just be known that it was a strange looking dino."

Emma smiled and took it from there. "I guess we would call the brachiosaurus the giraffe of dinosaurs. Their necks were around 30 feet long, which is approximately 10 metres." she said, looking over to Jake and Gia to see if they wanted to present. They both gave her a glare of pure boredom.

Troy decided to step in before things got ugly. "Anyways, life with a brachiosaurus would be both fun and annoying, at the same time." he said, saving Noah and Emma some embarrassment from their best friends. "For one, it would be able to lift you all the way up to the top of some pretty tall buildings. However, you'd be able to hear its loud breathing since, like Noah said, its nostrils were on the top of its head."

Noah smiled and nodded. "Also, a brachiosaurus needed to eat about a hundred pounds of plants every day, deeply cutting into your vegetable supply. While it would keep the icky vegetables off yoru plate, it wouldn't be very healthy."

"Nothing wrong with being vegetarian..." Emma added in, humorously. As an environmental activist, she was a strict vegetarian.

"That concludes our presentation." Troy said, bowing for applause from the class.

"Very good!" Mr. Burley congratulated. "Just hand me your poster and I'll grade it before the end of class..." he said, grabbing the poster board from Noah's hands.

The five of them took their respective seats. At the start of class, the five had to sit together to get ready to present. Since the presentations were over, they were free to move back to their original desks. While it was a great bonding experience, it wasn't so great for Jake and Gia.

Noah took a seat next to Jake. "Is everything all right?" he asked, patting Jake's back.

Jake slowly nodded his head. "Yeah, whatever..." he mumbled.

Noah smirked. "Listen, I know why you're upset..." he tried comforting. He tried his best not to laugh. It wasn't a secret to him that Jake had a monster crush on Gia, but he knew that was something Jake didn't let him mess around with.

"Just...let it go..." Jake said, putting his head down.

Emma looked at Gia. "What's going on with you, today?" she asked.

Gia shook her head and looked away. "What do you think?" she asked, back.

Emma shrugged her shoulders. "I really have no idea..."

Gia shook her head, again. "Maybe it's because every fucking guy looks at me the same, seductive way. Jake's no different, and now I have to get to know him more." she scoffed. "You know how much I can't stand those guys."

Emma tried to smile. "Gia, it's all right..."

"No, it's not."

Gia tried to change the subject. "Hey, don't we leave for North Carolina tonight?" she asked.

Emma's eyes popped out. "Shit, you're right! I almost forgot! What time do we have to be at the airport?" she asked.

Gia thought for a minute. "I think it was 8 P.M. Do you know who's going along with us?"

"Yeah, the five of us are going, of course. There are supposed to be about twenty kids going, but I don't know any of them. The only other person that I know who's going is the new kid."

"The new kid?" Gia asked. She wasn't able to put her mind on any new kid in school.

"You know, the one who wears grey shirts all the time? His name is, like, Jason or something..."

"Jordan? Jordan Johnson?"

"Yeah! That's his name!" Emma exclaimed.

* * *

**AS ALWAYS, DROPPIN' A REVIEW NEVER HURT :)**


	23. Flights Across The World

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Alli, Chase, Shayla, and the rest of the students who were going on the overseas trip all reached the airport via the school provided charter bus. Alli's father was on eof the chaperones who 'volunteered' to go on the trip. Their flight was as 7 P.M. to Moscow, connecting at London on the way.

"Ahh, my hometown." Alli reminisced. While she wasn't born directly in London, she had moved to the city at a very young age. "Good times...good times..." she sighed. She truly missed England, but America wasn't too bad.

"Don't worry, only a few more hours." her father said, checking his Facebook on his smartphone.

"I've never been there before." Chase chuckled. "I can't wait to get a glimpse of it, though."

"Trust me, it's a really nice city. I understand that it can be dreary at times, but it's not that bad of a place." Alli assured.

"I'll take your word for it." Chase smiled.

Shayla was sitting down patiently when her phone vibrated. She pulled it out to read the text from Jake. "_have fun. i'll miss u._" it read.

"_i'll miss u 2_" she replied.

"_btw, watch chase and alli for me_"

Shayla looked at Chase and Alli talk. "_y?_" she asked.

"_becuz...just do it_"

"_lol __fine whatever...loveya_"

"_loveya 2, bye-bye!_" Jake replied, ending the text message conversation.

Shayla put her phone away and watched Chase and Alli closely. She had no idea why Jake would want her to watch them, but she would do it anyways. After all, she had nothing better to do at the airport.

Chase and Alli were really getting into their conversation. Shayla could see that the way Chase looked at Alli was the same that Jake had looked at her. It only took a few minutes, but Shayla could understand why Jake wanted her to pay attention to the two of them.

Since the weekend where she had played at the Java House, Jake had been especially close to Chase, Alli, Nick, and Kenzie. She was Nick's best friend, so he explained to her that something pulled them all together. She could tell that when Jake met with Nick and Kenzie, they usually lightheartedly teased Chase and Alli.

As she watched they way they interacted, she couldn't help but smile a bit. It wasn't hard to see that Chase was such a doofus when he was around Alli, but she was accepting of it and even _liked_ the special attention that he received from him. She knew how it felt to be in love with somebody that you trusted and such a feeling brought butterflies to her stomach.

Alli looked at the clock on the wall and saw that there was only a half hour before boarding began. "I'm going to go grab something to eat. Do you guys wanna come with me?" she asked Chase and her father.

Her father shook his head. "No, I'm not really hungry."

Chase got up. "Yeah, I'll come with you. I skipped lunch today and I would kill for a bite." he announced. He looked around for any good airport restaurants. "Wanna go to the pizza place?" he asked.

Alli nodded her head. "Yeah, I'm up for some pizza." she agreed, pulling out some money from her purse.

Chase took it out of her hand and put it back into her purse. "No, _I'll _pay." he offered.

Alli smiled. "What a gentleman!" she exclaimed.

* * *

**==Harwood County, California, United States==**

The Megaforce Rangers and the rest of the students who were going to Palisade were allowed to leave school very early so that they could make their 4 P.M. flight. The twenty-something kids were all jam packed into one airport terminal.

As usual, Emma and Gia were together while Jake and Noah were together. Troy heard that Jordan was the new kid in school, so he went to take a seat by him.

"Hey, Jordan." he greeted, giving Jordan an handshake.

Jordan returned the handshake rather weakly. "Hey..." he slumped.

"What's wrong?" Troy asked.

"It's just that my family just moved to Harwood and now I'm leaving..." he groaned.

"Where did you live before?"

"I used to live in Smalltown. I've lived there all my life, in fact. Sometimes, I really miss my home."

"You know, Smalltown _is _only an hour away."

"Yeah, I know, but it's just the fact that I'll never be there anymore..."

Troy patted Jordan on the back. "It'll be okay, bud. Trust me, I'm also pretty new to this school. I still don't know many kids, and the kids that I _do _know aren't really getting along with each other." he said, looking over to Gia, Emma, Noah, and Jake.

Jake and Noah were playing some sort of game on Noah's laptop. Since Troy was in Harwood, he had known Noah to be the computer wizard of the school. The school technicians regularly needed him to perform some mandatory computer updates that they were unable to perform. Jake, on the other hand, had been on the opposite side of teh spectrum. He had been the more athletic one of the two, finding himself as one of the top scorers of the school's soccer team.

Emma and Gia were busy gossipping about senseless crap. Emma was the environmentalist of Harwood, known for forming the school's very own Environmental Club. Troy had even seen her bike off into the woods and come back with loads of recyclable goods in heaping trash bags. Gia, on the other hand, had been somewhat of a bookworm. The attention she received from most of the school had made her much of an introvert, keeping mostly to herself and to Emma. However, that didn't mean that she didn't have any guy friends. She was still into guys, albeit not that much.

Jake couldn't help but look at Gia the entire time. She was beautiful, but she was also unreachable. She had made it evident that she didn't want to date Jake, but he just wasn't able to keep himself form her.

He slowly walked over to her. "Hey, Gia..." he mumbled.

Gia shook her head. "Jake, seriously, you need to-"

"I know you think I'm just out here to get you." he started. "I want to tell you that I'm not. I take the responsibility of our job seriously and I need you to know that I'm not going to try any funny business."

"You better not..."

"No, I won't, and all I ask is that you just respect me a bit more." he affirmed. "You don't have to accept me as a lover or anything, all that I ask for is that you accept me as a friend."

Gia and Emma looked at each other. "Whatever, doofus." Gia said, coldly.

"Gia, stop it!"

Gia crossed her arms. "What makes you different from every other guy?" she asked.

Jake held his arms up. "I'll be honest with you. Nothing makes me different from any other guy. I just think that it's in our best interest to accept each other as teammates and move on."

Gia shook her head. "Whatever, just get out of my sight..." she groaned, shooing him away.

Jake nodded. "Yeah, I'll accept that as a 'token' of your friendship." he said, walking back over to Noah.

Troy and Jordan watched the entire scene. "Wow, they really don't get along." Jordan said. "That girl doesn't seem like she's the most accepting person in the world."

Troy smirked. "Her name is Gia, and she's a bit cold when it comes to the 'weird guys'. You see, Jake isn't the coolest guy in school, and Gia definitely doesn't want to tarnish her reputation, so she'll easily push him out of the way." he told Jordan.

"How do you know this much? I thought you were also new to this school."

"Yeah, I'm new to this school, but it doesn't take a long time to see a person's personality."

Jake slouched onto the chair by Noah. "Well, that didn't go as well as I planned." he groaned.

Noah smiled. "It's cool, bro. There are plenty of other girls in the world."

Jake put his hand over his face. "I didn't even walk there to ask her out or anything. I just proposed a friendship."

Noah put his hand on Jake's shoulder. "Like I said, it's cool. If she's not willing to take you in, then she's not worth your time."

"But I _want _her to be worth my time..."

"Now, I'm not the dating wizard or anything, but I know that you should let her get some time to get used to you. You can't force yourself onto her."

Emma and Gia chuckled together after Jake left. "He's such a weirdo." Gia muttered.

"Come on, don't be so harsh. It sounded like he was really trying to make the first step." Emma comforted. "Besides, I think you should give him a chance."

Gia shook her head. "No, I _don't _think I should give him a chance. Emma, you know how I feel about the weird kids."

Emma sighed. "Gia, you shouldn't be like this."

Gia crossed her arms. "Why should I not?" she asked.

"Well, if what happened a few days ago with the talking tiki holds its statement, then we're all partners. You pretty much have to give Jake, Noah, and Troy a chance."

Gia noticed Troy talking to Jordan. "I don't even know who he is other than the fact that he worked on the project with us. I don't even think I've said ten words to the guy." she groaned.

Emma chuckled. "Oh, come on, he's not that bad." she smirked.

Gia could recognize the look on Emma's face. Whenever Emma smirked like that, it only meant one thing. "Oh, don't tell me you like-"

"Shh! Don't say it out loud. I don't want anybody to tell him..." she whispered.

Gia chuckled. "Wow, Emma, you're really bad at this."

"Hey, it's not easy being known around school as 'Gia Moran's friend'. I want a fair share of the guys, too." Emma bit her lip.

Gia couldn't stop laughing. "I wanna see you try. From the looks of it, Troy could care less about girls."

"I said keep it down!" Emma whispered.

* * *

**==Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation==**

Raylan waited eagerly as the plane from Palisade landed at Domodedovo International Airport. He was supposed to 'act' as a supervisor and a Russian translator to help the kids around the city.

He watched as each student got off the plane and waited until he saw Chase and Alli. When they exited the terminal, he walked over to them. "Hey, are you ready?" he asked them.

Chase and Alli knew by this time that they were in Moscow for a mission. It only took a little bit of time for them to realize that they had the role of investigating attacks on Moscow.

"Yeah, we're ready." Chase muttered.

"You know the plan, right?" Raylan asked.

Chase and Alli nodded. "Yeah, I think we get it." Alli said.

"Good, I want you to group up with the rest of the students. I'll give a short presentation to the rest of the students what their 'assignment' is."

"What _is _their assignment?" Chase asked.

"Well, they're supposed to tour Moscow and record sights. Their role is to make it harder for people to actually know who the real Rangers are. Clever, isn't it?" Raylan winked.

Alli chuckled. "That is a pretty genius idea."

"Oh, by the way, we have five other Rangers in California that will be coming over to Palisade, soon. I want you to get to know them, they're going to be some of your biggest resources for now."

Chase nodded. "Yeah, when they come, we'll give them the grand tour."

"Good, now get back to the other students. We're going to need to get everyone organized before we can even get started with your mission. Good luck and take a good night's rest. I'll alert you if anything pops up." Raylan said, leading the two over to the rest of the students.


	24. World Battlefields

_Sorry for the slow update process, I had been quite busy with a few things. However, I am now back on track and hopefully will be much better with my updates._

_Another author's note: Damn, we've been in Russia for a long time already! I only planned on this 'Russian mission' to only last a few chapters, and look what it blew up into. Don't worry, we're almost done with Russia and I promise that the other countries won't take as long! Thanks for the patience!_

_Anyways, on with the story!_

* * *

**==Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation==**

Raylan requested to chaperone Alli and Chase and took them into his hotel room. Alli and Chase sat on the couch while Raylan was looking for papers on the counter.

"How much Russian do you know?" Chase asked Raylan.

"I know enough to get by. I'll probably be your translator...if you need one." Raylan answered.

"Yeah, I'll probably need one..."

"What's the game plan?" Alli asked, playing with her hair.

Raylan pulled out a map of Moscow with red X's marked all over. "Here's an overview of the city. The X's on this map show where a monster has appeared. Care to notice anything odd about it?" he asked, handing the map to the teenagers.

Chase tried connecting the X's with his finger. "Wait a minute...all of these small X's form a larger X." he stated, realizing that the mini X's were dotting a larger X over the city. "Whoa, what gives?"

Raylan smirked. "Now look at the middle. Notice anything odd?" he asked.

Chase's eyes popped out. "The Kremlin is in the middle...and there's no X on it!" he exclaimed.

"That's right. Something tells me that they're plotting some kind of governmental take-over."

"But why?"

"I'm not sure. That's why you guys are here to find out."

Alli and Chase looked at each other. "What do we have to do?" Alli asked.

Raylan sat down by them. "It's no surprise that the next attack will be on the Kremlin. Since I'm the one taking you two in, I'll lead you down there and we'll see what happens."

"What are these attacks like?"

"They've all been hostage situations. Just don't kill whoever is being kidnapped and you'll be fine."

"What else do we need to know?"

"I'm guessing one of the higher ranking monsters is heading over to Novaya Zemlya."

"What's that?" Chase asked.

"It's an archipelago high up north where Soviet nuclear testing used to take place."

"What could they want there?".

"I have no idea, but it's definitely not good."

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

The next morning after arriving in Palisade, the Harwood High School chaperones led the twenty-or-so students around town so they would get a good feel of the area. The entire tour took about five hours and most of the kids were exhausted.

Gia mostly stuck with Emma and a guy named Marty. The two had met Marty on the flight over to Palisade and Gia took quite a liking to him. Emma kept her distance from the two so she wouldn't appear as a third wheel.

Jake and Noah stuck to each other, as well. Noah could tell that Jake was totally bummed over Gia spending so much time with Marty. Marty was a fellow soccer player, only he was much better at the sport than Jake was.

Troy and Jordan kept together. As new students together in a school of people who grew up together, they couldn't identify well with anyone else without appearing like tryhards. As such, they just got to know each other in the process.

Emma tried to keep her pace behind Troy. She couldn't stop herself from looking at him, despite the fact that he had showed no real interest in her. As a result of his ignorance towards her, she could feel for Jake. He had been pining for Gia, only for her to show absolutely no interest in him. While Troy had not gone to the extreme of humiliating Emma like Gia had to Jake, he still hit her pretty hard by not returning those appreciative glances.

The last stop on the tour was Palisade High School. Since it was a weekend, the only students that were in the school were there for either disciplinary purposes or for making up assignments. Ryleigh volunteered to take the students into her classroom in order to give them some introductory lessons on how the school worked and some major school rules.

When Gadget-X had finished whatever he needed to do, he showed her and Johnny pictures of the Harwood Rangers. As such, she kept a close watch on them in class while giving her lessons. When she had finished her lessons, she dismissed all of the students.

"Wait, you five need to stay here." she said, catching the attentions of Troy, Noah, Jake, Gia, and Emma.

The five of them were confused at first, but knew why quickly. "Oh, you know..." Troy mumbled.

Ryleigh nodded her head. "I just need to keep you guys in here for about a minute or two."

The five of them took seats in the front row desks. "Why do you need us here?" Gia said, staring out the window.

"Well, it's no surprise that you five are the Harwood Rangers." Ryleigh started.

Jake nodded. "Yeah, that's us." he groaned.

"Well, as I said earlier, my name is Mrs. King. When we're on our Ranger duty, however, I want you guys to call me by my first name, Ryleigh." Ryleigh instructed. "I'm pretty much in charge of the Ranger troop around this and organize their training sessions."

"And how does this apply to us in any way?" Gia asked coldly.

Ryleigh smirked at Gia's question. In every Ranger troop was one person who wanted to be the biggest bitch among them all. Ryleigh remembered that she was in the same position right before she became a Ranger.

"This applies to you because you need to get to know the other Rangers." Ryleigh answered. "Anyways, I only know you by facial recognition, I want to get to know who you all really are." she said, walking over to Troy. "Who are you?" she asked him.

Troy slumped in his seat and smirked. "I'm Troy Burrows. I'm new to Harwood, and even newer to Palisade."

"Any hobbies?"

"I like martial arts. I like to train myself in my free time. I want to look out for some dojos around here." he answered, earning a cute smile from Emma.

Ryleigh nodded and walked over to Noah. "And what about you?" she asked him.

Noah slumped to the same degree as Troy. "I'm Noah Carver. I've lived in Harwood my entire life. In fact, I've never spent more than a week in any other place, so this is kind of frightening." he admitted. "As for interests, I'm a hardcore tech geek. I could volunteer myself as the team engineer." he grinned.

Ryleigh nodded. "That's...very good." she said. "I don't think we've seen anyone on this team who could use technology well, so that's a plus factor." she walked over to Jake. "And you?" she asked him.

Jake shrugged. "I'm Jake Holling. I play soccer. I guess that's it..." he groaned.

Ryleigh chuckled. "That's funny, there's already another Jake on the team. How are we going to work this out?" she asked.

Jake shrugged again. "Whatever floats your boat..."

Ryleigh could tell he was distressed. Still, she moved on to Emma. "The first girl so far. Who are you?" she asked.

Emma bit her lip and glanced subtly at Troy, a gesture that Ryleigh was able to pick off right away. "My name is Emma Goodall..." she said nervously, still glancing at Troy. "I like biking and taking pictures..." she mumbled. She didn't want to give out too much information because she wanted Troy to find her out on his own.

Ryleigh chuckled again. "Wow, not only do we have two Jakes, but we also have two Emmas. We're going to have to find a way to deal with this." Emma chuckled awkwardly at Ryleigh's statement. Ryleigh moved onto Gia. "Last but not least..."

"Gia Moran." she said quickly. "I haven't got any interests sorted out, yet..."

"Ahem...Marty." Jake coughed. When Ryleigh turned around, Gia flipped him off.

"Anyways, there are a few things you have to learn." Ryleigh started. "First off, if your morphers warm up, then that means you are being called into battle. There is a distinct button you have to push in order to request to be teleported to the battlefield. Unfortunately, you had to get the big morphers instead of the watch ones, which may hinder you."

"How do we morph?" Emma asked.

"You call out: 'Go, Go, Megaforce!'"

Troy smirked. "Is there anything else?" he asked.

Ryleigh shook her head. "Not that I can remember. You guys can go on with your tour now." she said, dismissing the five of them.

As she watched them leave the classroom, she couldn't help but sigh. These were a tough bunch of kids. They didn't mix as easily as the Palisade Rangers did, but Ryleigh was sure that they would become great teammates.

* * *

Kenzie, Nick, and Jake met up at the Java House to get something to drink. Since Chase was all the way over in Russia, there was a replacement barista over at the bar. While Chase was far superior in his coffee brewing capabilities, the replacement still wasn't that bad.

"I'll have a chocolate latte, please." Kenzie requested, reading the daily specials.

"Make that two, por favor." Jake added in.

"Actually, three." Nick said.

As the Rangers drank their drinks, their morphers started to heat up. They all looked at each other with confused faces.

"What's going on?" Kenzie asked.

"Remember, if our morphers warm up, that means there's an attack somewhere in the city!" he reminded the others.

Just that instant, a lady ran into the Java House, screaming. "There was an attack downtown! Fire and explosions...everwhere!" she screamed, collapsing out of fear.

Nick, Kenzie, and Jake ran out of the bar and pressed their morphers down.

* * *

They ran to the scene to see a fairly large army of serpentine monsters attacking the city. The SWAT team and fire department were already on the scene, trying to get people to safety. When the Rangers felt nobody was watching, they morphed.

"What do we do?" Nick asked.

"Well, we're lacking two of our top fighters." Kenzie groaned.

Suddenly, a Pink Ranger arrived on the scene. The trio guessed that it was Ryleigh. "Hey, I thought you guys might have needed some help." she said, getting into a defensive stance. "By the way, we recruited five other Rangers from California. They should be here shortly." she said, running into battle.

"Five other Rangers?" Jake asked, following Ryleigh into the fight. Nick and Kenzie shrugged and rushed into the firestorm, as well.

When the four of them were in battle, the five Harwood Rangers finally found out how to teleport themselves. They stood in a line of five, with Troy standing front and center, leading his team.

"Oh my gosh! What do we do?" Emma shrieked, looking at the destruction.

"We fight." Troy said, monotonously. "Are you guys ready?" he asked his team, looking back at them to see their reactions.

They all nodded. "Yes." they announced in unison.

"Go, go, Megaforce!" they shouted, morphing into the Megaforce Rangers.

They stretched around in their suits before eyeing the battlefield. "I have a plan." Troy stated. "While Ryleigh and the Palisade Rangers attack from the center, we stay on the sides, keeping these creepies from escaping. That way, we can create a trap to work inside." he declared, leading his team on.

"And that's why he's the leader." Emma smirked behind her mask.

* * *

**==Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation==**

Bodies were everywhere. Buildings were toppling over. The Kremlin had been infiltrated. The onslaught would not end.

By this time, Alli and Chase had been pushing through the Russian battlefield, hacking away at Exo's serpents.

Alli took cover behind a toppled car after exchanging fire with a monster. "Chase, I can't do this." she uttered, breathing heavily.

Chase got by her and fired shots at monsters. "Alli, you have to hang in there. The world depends on us." he assured her.

Alli nodded. "Chase, will you go in there with me?" she asked.

Chase nodded in response. "Let's do this." he said, rushing into the battlefield with her.

* * *

Raylan was inside the Kremlin, trying to prevent these monsters from confiscating the Russian nuclear launch codes. It was vital that Exo and his army of serpents didn't lay there hands on this valuable information. Sutekh had already took off without Raylan being able to do anything. If the monsters were able to relay the codes over to Sutekh, all hell would break loose.

Raylan plunged his way deeper into the Kremlin until he reached a point where no monster had been. He took refuge behind a wall and waited patiently for infiltrators. The Russian army was doing its best to protect both the city and the Kremlin, but it wasn't enough.

Raylan heard footsteps and carefully peered his head out the wall to catch a glimpse of what was headed. He held onto his blaster as he rushed to destroy the incoming enemy.


	25. A Team Effort

_I decided to give these serpents their own language since it wouldn't make sense talking to each other in English. Therefore, I am giving them the language of **Dragonspeak **from Skyrim. If you don't know any of the words or haven't played Skyrim, just go to the Elder Scrolls Wiki for a quick dictionary. I'll post a link on my profile._

_Also, I'll be incorporating a bit of Skyrim into this story to make the entire serpent flow easier to write about. You'll see what I mean._

_Anyways, on with the story!_

**==Pailsade, North Carolina, United States==**

It took all the hacking, slashing, punching, kicking, blasting, and hitting that they could do, but they finally held the massive serpent army to a standstill. There were only about twenty left from the original one-hundred, but it would still be a tough battle getting to the center.

Troy almost completely obliterated the lower serpents by himself, with some assistance from his Megaforce teammates. While they were a help, they were nowhere close to as combat-ready as Troy was. His years of martial arts training showed and helped pay off.

Gia was the closest thing to a true teammate that Troy had. While she swayed away, she was definitely able to hold her own in battle. Years of her 'tough girl' attitude showed as something that was not meant to be played around with.

On the other side of the battlefield, Jake Fernandez was the leading attacker. Since he was second only to Chase, who was in Russia, he had to act as the leader of the Palisade group. While he wasn't usually the one to be taken seriously, he was not something to be messed with when he was angry.

Ryleigh did a good job coordinating attacks and assiting the Rangers. When she could see a Ranger was about to get their ass kicked, she would call them back and go in for them, throwing final blows to the respective serpents.

As a team, however, the Rangers were appearing lackluster. Since the two group still weren't used to each other, they seperated in their own ways. The Megaforce group, especially, stuck to themselves. Since they were the least familiar with their own teammates, they weren't as close as the Palisade Rangers. This caused a gaping hole in their defense, which the serpents tried to take advantage of.

Finally, when it appeared that everything was over and there was no general in sight, the Rangers all fell to breathe. When the area was clear of civilians, they were able to unmorph without detection.

"Good job, guys..." Ryleigh breathed a sigh of relief. "That was way harder than anything we've faced in Smalltown...of maybe is it because I'm a mom?" she laughed as she looked at the eight Rangers circled up around her. "Anyways, great victory today."

"Do you really think we did that good?" Jake Fernandez asked.

"Yes, Fernandez, you did pretty good."

"Why'd you call me Fernandez?" he asked.

Ryleigh looked back and forth at both Jakes. "I guess now would be a great time to introduce each other. We have two Jakes on the team, one will go by his surname, Holling, while the other will go by his surname, Fernandez." she announced.

Both Jakes look at each other awkwardly. "Sup, Jake." Fernandez greeted. Holling waved back.

Ryleigh moved on to Emma. "This is Emma Goodall. She likes bike riding and photography." Emma smiled softly and waved to the rest of the team.

Ryleigh looked at her friend, Gia. "This is Gia Moran. She doesn't talk much, but I'm sure she'll open up, soon enough." Ryleigh said, smiling hopefully at Gia. Gia just gave a sarcastic thumbs up to the team.

The next person in the order Ryleigh went in was Noah. "This is Noah Carver, technological wizard." she introduced. Noah smiled and tipped his glasses to his teammates.

Then came Jake Holling. "Like I said earlier, his name is Jake Holling, star soccer player." Jake Holling shot a cheesy smile at his teammates.

The last Megaforce Ranger was Troy. "This is Troy Burrows, the leader of the Megaforce Rangers." she said, letting Troy wave to his teammates.

She moved on to the Palisade Rangers and saw Kenzie was the first one. "This is McKenzie Taylor, who goes by Kenzie. Great track & field runner and good friend."

Next was Jake Fernandez. "This is, once again, Jake Fernandez. He's a genius in the classroom, but doesn't like to show it." Jake Fernandez smiled embarrassedly to his temamates.

The last Ranger was Nick. "This is Nick Carlisle, musical genius and passionate kid. He really loves what he does." she said, letting Nick wave to his teammates the way Troy did.

"Why do they get a cool name like Megaforce?" Kenzie asked. "What do we get?"

"Well, Raylan codenamed you guys 'Rescue Operatives'." Ryleigh answered. "Rescue Ops for short, I guess..."

"Rescue Ops..." Fernandez repeated. "I like it!"

"I actually like the sound of that more than 'Megaforce'." Emma added in.

Ryleigh could tell that it would take time for these kids to grow accustomed to each other, but they were already starting. After all, they were only teenagers going through the awkward phases of their lives. Ryleigh's team had just been fortunate enough to bump into each other _before _becoming Rangers, something that these other teams couldn't have done.

"How about we go to the Java House and get something to snack on?" she suggested. The other Rangers got up awkwardly and followed her as she led them to the coffee shop.

* * *

Emma watched both battles through the news coverage; the one in Palisade and the one in Moscow. She wished she could have been out there, but she had a daughter to take care of. It seemed like Ryleigh was doing a great job of keeping everything under control and acting as a team leader. Of the few memories she had of Ryleigh while they were teammates together was that Ryleigh was a great replacement for Raylan in any of his absences.

As for the battle in Moscow, it seemed to have destroyed most of the city. There were hundreds of people dead, and Raylan wasn't even on the scene. It disappointed her to see that her husband wasn't there, but she was sure that it was because of some secretive reason. Most of the time, his job kept him from his Ranger duties. She was pleased to see, however, that Alli and Chase were exceptionally well on the battlefield. Their teamwork led to a swift sweeping of the serpents.

When the battles ended, she turned her TV off and looked at her daughter, who was playing with the mobile above her crib. If Emma were to ever morph into her Ranger Suit again, it would endanger Casey. Raylan and Emma had an agreement where only one of them would morph at a time while the other tended to the little girl in order to protect her. While it hurt Emma to watch the city getting shredded to bits from her own home, she knew she couldn't break the pact she had with her husband.

Emma walked over to Casey and picked her up. "I love you, Casey." she whispered into her daughter's ears.

"Ma-ma!" Casey cooed.

* * *

**==Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation==**

When the monsters were being repressed, Alli and Chase were able to unmorph and regroup with the rest of the school. That way, their identities would remain secret while the Russian army would be left to deal with the minor menace.

It took all they could, but they were able to hold their own in their first battle with each other. Chase was a very formidable fighter who used a strategy of getting right into it; offense over defense. Alli, on the other hand, did the opposite. She planned out her moves and then carried them out based on the risks of jumping straight into them. Together as a team they were unstoppable.

The two of them quickly rushed back into the hotel with the rest of their schoolmates before being detected.

"Phew, that was a close call." Alli sighed, slumping into a couch in the hotel lobby.

Chase fell down on the empty seat by her. "I know, right? That was exhausting." he agreed.

"Good job today, you were awesome." Alli smiled.

Chase smiled back. "No, you were."

Alli's dad spotted his daughter and gave her a big hug. "Alli, you had me worried. Where were you?" he asked her, looking at both kids sitting down.

"Chase helped me find my way through the city. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for him." she said, looking back and forth between the two.

Chase scratched his head. "It was nothing, really..."

"Thank you very much." Alli's father said, shaking Chase's hand before walking off to regroup the other kids, who were causing a ruckus.

Chase looked at Alli confused. "Are you kidding me? Was it really me?" he asked.

Alli put her arm around him. "Trust me, if you weren't here with me, I'd probably be dead. You saved me." she smiled, kissing him on the cheek.

* * *

Luckily, Raylan was able to finish off most of the serpents before they could get their hands on the nuclear codes. However, one was still standing: Sutekh. He had come back from Novaya Zemlya due to his inability to lay his hands on some of the Russian nukes.

"I'm going to finish you!" Raylan shouted, sending some blasts to the large serpent.

"Not If I get you first!" Sutekh roared, breathing fire at Raylan.

Raylan quickly roll dodged out of the way and took residence behind a wall. When Sutekh's fire trailed out, Raylan went back in and blasted him. Unfortunately, it was too late as Sutekh quickly grabbed the nulear codes out of a safe.

"Look what I have!" Sutekh taunted, waving the nuclear codes in the air.

"No!" Raylan shouted, firing rounds as Sutekh, only for the serpent to dodge them.

"Feim zii!" Suteh roared, teleporting from the scene.

"What happened?" Raylan mumbled to himself, standing alone in the destroyed room.

He walked around and inspected the area, hoping to find anything that could prevent Sutekh's master nuclear plan. Since the Kremiln was a high communications area, he knew he could contact Gadget-X.

He pressed his morpher and spoke into it. "Gadget-X, you there?" he asked, waiting for the communication to kick in.

"Reading!" the robot announced through the morpher.

Raylan sighed with relief. "This general just shouted words foreign to even my ear, I need you to do a reading on them." he said.

"What did he say?"

"He said 'feim zii' and then just teleported into mid-air."

"I'm picking up that 'feim zii' directly translates into 'fade spirit' in an ancient language. My robotic gut says that this ancient language can be combined to make spells."

"Are you sure about that?" Raylan asked.

"That's the only thing I can come up with." Gadget-X answered.

Raylan groaned. "Do you have any sort of translator? Anything?"

"I can't pick anything up about this language. It appears to me that you've just discovered your spell, but I don't think you now how to use it."

"So I have to find these words out on my own and then find out how to say them? Goddamnit!" Raylan shouted.

"I'm sorry, but I can't really help you." the robot apologized.

"It's all right, I'll be able to do this. See ya." he said, hanging the morpher up.

This was a huge surprise to Raylan. He would not only have to be fluent in this serpentine language, but he also had to be able to use spell incantations to fight the serpents off.

Raylan shook his head and walked upstairs. He didn't have a proper excuse to give to Prime Minister Putin about this failure.


	26. Dragons

_It was only fair that I added Skyrim (aka Elder Scrolls) as a crossover since I will be using the Dragon language and creating spells from them. I understand that this may frustrate or even make some readers quit reading this, but I feel like it's necessary. If you don't like the abrupt change, then I do apologize sincerely, but it's just something that I had to do to preserve story flow (and keep me motivated)._

_Another side note, I had always planned on bringing dragons at one point in the story. I just want to let you guys know that now so it's not a surprise when they first come up. It would only make sense as Raylan's Zord is...well...a dragon._

_Anyways, on with the story!_

* * *

**==Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation==**

Moscow had a period of city recovery on that Sunday. Luckily, there were no monster attacks to interrupt the already broken city during their rebuilding time. The last thing the place needed was another firestorm.

Raylan took Alli and Chase into his room, much to the disappointment of the chaperones. However, he needed to talk with them over some stuff. He was clearly impressed with the way they handled their first monster fight, but they also destroyed the city in the process.

All three of them would be leaving that Monday: Alli and Chase by flight back home and Raylan by F-22 over to the carrier ship. Despite all of the sincere apologies, he still resented General Fuller over his little 'prank'.

Finally, it was 12 A.M. in Moscow and the students had to leave for their flight to arrive back at Palisade around 6 in the morning. Luckily, the teachers were told to excuse these students from their classes to get some rest for the entire day, a reward that the students could not have been happier to receive.

Raylan, on the other hand, could leave at any time during the day. He had to fly down to Pailsade as fast as possible to get an anti-nuclear suit upgrade from Gadget-X so he could visit Novaya Zemlya and see what Sutekh took from there.

Raylan woke up to a loud thud in his room. When he hopped out of his bed, he saw Exo standing on the other side of his room.

"Drem yol lok. Greetings, human." Exo grumbled.

"What do you want at 3 A.M.?" Raylan asked.

"Vith niid tiid. A serpent has no time."

"Will you stop talking in codes and get on with your message?" Raylan asked irritatedly.

"Drem, jul. Peace, human."

Raylan threw his arms out. "You want me to calm down when you're tearing apart this world?" he shouted.

"Fin gol fen kos dilon. The earth will be dead." he growled. "Feim zii!" he shouted, fading away in the darkness.

Raylan scratched his head and fell back into his head. He was so confused.

* * *

**==Secret Ops Base, U.S.S. Columbia, Atlantic Ocean==**

Raylan immediately flew his jet over to the Secret Ops Base to receive the details for his next exploit. He rushed onto the ship to meet with General Fuller and discuss the mission. While things were still awkward between the two, it was a straightforward request.

"I need you to find out what's going on in northern Russia. Novaya Zemlya, as you know." General Fuller stated, throwing a folder full of papers on his desk. "Don't lost these papers. These are a copy of the U.S. nuclear launch codes, the 'football' as it is commonly referred to."

Raylan quickly grabbed the files and held them closely. "I'll guard it with my life." he replied. "...which was almost lost thanks to you..." he mumbled, making sure that the general didn't hear that.

With that, Raylan headed out for his jet to fly over to Palisade. The first thing he needed was a suit upgrade from Gadget-X allowing him to keep his cool in a highly radioactive zone.

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Chase and Alli spent their day off hanging out and listening to good music at the Java House. Since Chase's shift was only in the evening, he was treated like a guest with all of the employee discounts, to which he treated Alli with what she wanted.

"To be honest, that was a terrible 'vacation' to Russia." Chase said, sipping on his coffee.

Alli chuckled and sipped some of hers, as well. "Yeah, I agree. Some 'vacation' of fighting monsters..." she groaned. "Well, at least the problem's done with."

"Not necessarily, we still have other countries to go to."

"I hear the Rangers back here did a great job. There were new kids, too."

"I'm excited, I want to meet them." Chase smiled.

"Yeah, well I'm sure we can all meet up here today in the evening. That would be a great way to get a whole team bonding session down." Alli suggested.

"That's a great idea. I'll set it up." Chase agreed.

* * *

Gia spent the entire day at school with Marty. It seemed like they would eventually become a serious couple if time would allow them. Gia had never been as into a guy as she was to Marty.

Holling loathed Marty. The boy was taking all the attention of Gia away from Holling. Holling had been crushing on Gia ever since middle school and Marty just jumped in between everything. He had never felt an intense jealousy over any guy with Gia as he did with Marty because Gia had never been so serious with a boy before.

Noah was very impressed by Palisade High School. It had a much larger lab than Harwood High School did and the teachers were much more friendly. Not to mention the blazing fast Wi-Fi and wide assorment of rare chemicals.

When Jordan heard about the recent Ranger attack, he couldn't help but watch the entire coverage through the news. He wanted to be on the scene to see some live action, but the police had blocked out all access to the area. Jordan had been in Smalltown before he moved to Harwood, so he was familiar with the concept of Power Rangers. In fact, it had gotten to the point where his desire to become one had peaked.

Troy was really awkward during his first day in Palisade. Despite being the new kid along with the rest of the Harwood students, he still didn't mingle with any Palisade students. He mostly kept to himself and sat in the back during classes, apart from saying 'hey' to his fellow Rangers when he saw them in the hallways..

Emma spent her entire day with Gia, acting as a third wheel to her and Marty. Emma wanted to find love for herself, but she was lost in the shadow of her best friend. Most guys that talked to Emma only talked to her to get to Gia. Troy, on the other hand, was different. He seemed to respect both the girls equally. Emma couldn't keep her crush on him under control because even Gia started to notice that there was something up with her.

Nick Carlilse had a new mission: get to know the new Rangers. It felt that every passing minute was an opportunity to make a new friend, and he just had to seize the moment. After all, in time, these kids were bound to be his best friends.

Fernandez was glad to see Shayla back in school. Despite her having the option to take the day off, she still showed up in order to be with her boyfriend. For some reason, hoewver, they didn't seem to be as close as they were before.

Kenzie couldn't take her eyes off either Troy or Holling. Something about the two guys pulled her in and she felt an intense force of love that she hadn't felt since her four-day relationship with AJ. The way that both of them fought on the battlefield was intense and reminded her of princes in shining armour.

* * *

At the end of the school day, the Megaforce Rangers headed back to their hotel rooms for the rest of the day. As per request, Emma and Gia roomed together, Jake and Noah roomed together, and Troy and Jordan roomed together.

Gia was on her phone the entire time texting Marty. He had gone into town to purchase some snack items to keep his belly full when he was hungry. Despite the trip to the mini-mart being very short, Gia still felt like she missed him dearly.

Emma was acting really reclusive. She kept looking at a photo inside her purse and hid it quickly every time Gia leaned over to get a look. Before the school day ended, Emma stealthily took a picture of Troy and had it printed out at the local photo booth for a few bucks.

Noah was busy playing _League of Legends _on his laptop. He had just improved his character and got really into a match. He was so loud that people in the adjacent rooms could hear his cheering.

Jake was lying on the bed, tossing his soccer ball around. Next to Gia, soccer was the love of his life. He had been playing the sport since he was four and couldn't think of a day when there wasn't a soccer ball within his eyeshot.

Troy, despite his awkwardness during school, was very open with Jordan. He learned all about Jordan's past in Smalltown and what he remembered the most about the Ranger attacks there.

There was a sudden knock on Troy's door. Troy got up and opened it to find Nick, Kenzie, and Jake.

"Do you guys wanna hang out with us today? We're going to bring the two other Rangers that you guys didn't meet, yet." Kenzie asked. She peered into the room and saw Jordan sitting down on the bed. "You can even bring your friend over there." she suggested.

"Who, Jordan?" Troy asked, looking back at him.

Jordan got up when he heard his name. "What's up?" he called out.

"They just wanna know if we're down to hang out." Troy told him.

"Yeah, that's cool with me." Jordan answered.

"Yay! We'll get the others!" Kenzie squealed, running off to knock on Gia's and Emma's door.

* * *

Raylan and Emma had a great mini-reunion with Casey, but Raylan had to quickly rush out to Ryleigh's house to go talk to Gadget-X. He brought Emma and Casey along with him so they wouldn't get bored at home.

Ryleigh was home alone with Alissa since Johnny went out to record music for his band's new album. Since he wasn't at home, there was nothing to distract Raylan from getting down to business. He went to the basement straight away to find Gadget-X.

He found the robot vacuuming the basement. "Buddy, what are you doing?" he asked, petting the robot.

"It was an order by Ryleigh." Gadget-X beeped.

"Listen, there are a lot of things I need to know. First of all, I want to know if you've finished that upgrade to my suit." he affirmed.

The robot nodded its metallic head. "Yes, present your morpher to me."

Raylan handed the robot his morpher. Gadget-X did a few fixes and switches and finally handed the morpher back to Raylan.

"The suit upgrade is complete." it announced. "What else do you need?"

"I need to work on the whole 'feim zii' thing. I want to exploit their language." Raylan mumbled. "It's the only way to stop them."

"As for the language, I can't help you. You must go speak to the dragons."

"Whoa...hold up..." Raylan paused. "Dragons? As in...winged flying beasts?" he asked.

"Yes, the dragons."

"But those aren't even real!" Raylan exclaimed.

"To ordinary humans they are not, but to you they are."

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you remember the spirits we contacted to get your powers?" Gadget-X asked.

"Yeah, what about them?"

"As they became one with you, they also opened up your eyes to their creations. The spirit of Legendus, responsible for your dragon powers, has opened up a visual portal to dragons."

"So, what do they have anything to do with this?" Raylan asked.

"The dragons are the ones who created this serpentine language. They are the ancient ancestors of Exo's species. You must go consult them in order to destroy the underground wyrms."

"Underground wyrms? Is that the name of Exo's species?" Raylan asked. Things were actually starting to come together for him.

"They were created by Legendus, but severely corrupted by Osirin."

"Don't you mean Osir_is_."

"No, Osir_in_. The name nas been changed to fit modern languages, but the ancient name is Osirin."

"So I have to defeat him...using dragons?" Raylan asked.

"Yes, only the dragons can guide you in this path." Gadget-X replied.

"Wait a minute...if Legendus and his creations can only appeal to me, how come ordinary people can see the wyrms?"

"Years of being around humans have allowed them to become visible." Gadget-X answered.

"Al Qaeda..." Raylan realized. The terrorist organziation had been in the temple forever. Perhaps it was them that instilled the idea of killing humanity into the wyrms.

"They could be unknowingly behind this all." Gadget-X realized, as well.

"Where do I find the dragons?" Raylan asked. "I want to put an end to this." he announced.

"The legends spoke of them living atop tall mountains. Where these mountains may be are subjective to your perception."

Raylan nodded. "I'll find them...and I'll save the world." he said, running up the stairs.

"Ehh...the tough life of a hero." Gadget-X sighed, returning to his household chores.


	27. Kangchenjunga

**==Zone C, Novaya Zemlya, Russian Federation==**

There was no sound on the desolate archipelago of Novaya Zemlya, which lay in between the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea. As a result of rigorous nuclear testing by the Soviets in the area during the Cold War, most inhabitants fled due to the high risk of radioactive poisoning.

When Raylan got the information he needed from Gadget-X, he immediately flew straight down to the area to morph and see what the wyrms were up to. He was sure that it had something to do with nuclear power as the area had no other attraction.

He had been wandering the frigid tundra in his Ranger Suit for what had seemed like hours. Thankfully for Gadget-X's last minute save, Raylan's new suit upgrade allowed him to stay warm and safe in this nuclear microwave. Finally, he found a massive crater in the ground. He assumed that he arrived at his destination.

"This is where the Tsar Bomba was detonated..." he mumbled. The crater had to be at least a few miles wide. He squatted on the ground and saw small footprints on the snow. "The wyrms were here..." he stood back up.

Before he could blink, the ground crumbled in front of him and a wyrm flew up from the hole. Raylan immediately recognized the threat as Sutekh and went into a defensive stance.

"What do you want here?" he asked.

"The most powerful creation of the humans!" Sutekh shouted from the sky.

Raylan's suspicions were right. "Sutekh! Come at me, bro!" he challenged the wyrm. "Or are you too chicken?"

Sutekh levitated to Raylan's eye level. "Hiu meyz wah daar frod. You come to this field, human?" Sutekh asked.

Without hesitating, Raylan punched the wyrm as hard as he could. "That's for destroying the entire fucking city of Moscow, you prick!" he shouted aggressively.

Unfortunatey, the wyrm was stronger. "You dare attack me, jul?" Sutekh asked.

Raylan sent another punch at Sutekh. "Hell yeah I attack you!"

Suddenly, a cloud of neon blue energy started to circulate around him. "Mul qah diiv!" Sutekh roared.

Raylan was knocked back as the energy started to materialize around the wyrm, forming a draconic shape. In a matter of seconds, the blue energy turned Sutekh into the shape of a large dragon.

"Yol toor shul!" the draconic Sutekh roared, breathing a surge of fire at Raylan.

Luckily, Raylan's suit was built to withstand the power of fire as it was created from the essense of dragons, itself. When the massive fire attack was over, Raylan had a chance to fight back.

"This isn't over, yet! DragonZord, I call you!" he shouted, calling his robotic DragonZord from the sky. When it landed, he teleported to the cockpit. "Let's see who the stronger dragon is, now." he challenged.

The DragonZord and Sutekh's Dragon Form were almost identical apart from color. Raylan's was a deep red while Sutekh's was a neon blue. Both dragons took to the sky to continue the fight.

"Why do you need our nukes?" Raylan asked mid-fight.

"Because it's the only way to claim this planet as our own!" Sutekh answered, blowing another breath of fire at Raylan's Zord.

"How do you expect to do that?"

Sutekh clawed at the DragonZord. "We're immune to radiation! That way, we can clear this planet of your selfish species and start a conquest of our own!" he roared.

Sutekh grabbed Raylan's DragonZord by the tail and sent it flying to the ground. Before Raylan had a chance to get up, it blew yet another round of fire at the Zord. This time, however, the DragonZord couldn't take it. It sparked up and ejected Raylan before exploding.

"Now look what you've done!" Raylan exclaimed.

Sutekh returned to wyrm form. "That's one point for me, dovakiin!"

"Dovahkiin, what's that?" Raylan asked. "Oh, never mind that. Time to end you!" he cried out, tackling Sutekh to the ground.

Raylan felt a strange form of energy rush through his body. He wasn't sure what it was, but he didn't feel like he could control it. It clawed its way through Raylan's consciousness until it was on the tip of his tongue.

"Fus ro dah!" Raylan roared, spawning a large wind from his mouth that tore Sutekh to bits.

Sutekh's remains started to glow and catch on fire. They turned into the lights that Raylan remembered seeing when the whole wyrm menace began and started to swirl around him. He stood at the center of it all, confused. Eventually, they flew into him.

Raylan's head hurt from confusion. He wasn't sure what was going on and finally collapsed on the arctic ground.

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Emma was used to Raylan being gone on these trips, but something felt different about this one. While at times she hadn't heard from her husband for days or even weeks, she had never truly felt as concerned as she had now. He had only been gone for a day, but she kept on feeling like something bad had happened to him.

Suddenly, her phone rang. She slowly creeped over, anticipating a call about Raylan. She carefully placed the phone by her ear. "Westbrook residence." she answered.

"Hey, Emma, it's Ryleigh." Ryleigh said on the other end of the line.

Emma breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, it's just you." she said.

"Why? What were you expecting?"

"Nothing...just ignore it...so what's going on?"

"It's Gadget-X."

"What's wrong with Gadget-X?" Emma asked. "Isn't he supposd to be glitch-free?"

"There aren't any glitches, it's just the stuff he's been saying."

"Like what?"

"He keeps talking about a 'Dragonborn' and Raylan using a 'Shout' or something like that."

"That's weird..." Emma muttered.

"Yeah, tell me about it. Besides, what did he need to talk to Gadget-X about?" Ryleigh asked.

"He wouldn't say."

"That's strange..."

"Yeah, my husband's job kinda forces him to be weird." Emma fake chuckled.

"Anyways, that's pretty much it. How are things with Casey?"

"She's fine. She's actually sleeping right now. How's Alissa?"

"Alissa's also sleeping! How cute!" Ryleigh squealed. "Well, I better get going. Seeya!"

"Bye-bye!" Emma chirped, hanging up the phone.

Emma looked over to her sleeping daughter. Every time she had a bad feeling about Raylan, she would think about their daughter and the damage it would do to her. She didn't want her daughter to be raised fatherless and watned Raylan to be a bit more careful with his things.

* * *

Their meeting that the Rangers had the previous day at the Java House was a big success. They got to learn a lot about each other and even scheduled a meeting place to hang out every morning before school.

Nick, Gia, and Emma Goodall were at the Java House together. They tried to get the others to come, but it didn't really work out, just leaving the three of them there. Nick was the sole reason that the meeting wasn't awkward.

"I'm not trying to pry for information or anything, but I could see the way you were looking at Troy yesterday..." Nick whispered to Emma.

Gia intercepted Nick's statement and laughed. "Wow, so you really do have something for the guy, don't you?" she asked Emma.

Emma looked down in shame. "So what if I have a simple crush? At least I'm not all over him like you and Marty." she attacked back.

Gia chuckled. "Relax, Emma, I'm not trying to kill you over this. I'm just trying to poke fun at this."

Emma shook her head. "Yeah, I do have something for him, but he doesn't even know I exist."

Nick placed his hand on her shoulder. "Relax, I _know _he knows you exist. After all, it's kind of hard not to notice another Power Ranger, isn't it?"

Gia placed her hand on Emma's other shoulder. "Yeah, and what if he's not ready for a relationship? Just give him some time and he might see you for who you really are. Then, you can truly decide whether you're fit for each other."

Emma nodded. "Yeah, I guess..." she mumbled.

"Why the long face?"

"Because every guy I get close to only wants _me _for _you_!" she exclaimed. "Gia, you don't know how hard this is!"

Gia bit her lip. What Emma said was true. "You're right, I don't know how you feel, but I still want to help you out." she assured. "I'm not your best friend for nothing."

Emma frowned and sighed. "Yeah, I'm sorry." she apologized.

Nick smiled and pulled them in. "Now that we're in the clear, how about drinks on me?"

* * *

**==Kangchenjunga, Sikkim, India==**

Raylan woke up in a daze. He was unmorphed and felt the brisk air graze his skin. He propped himself and sat up on the snow covered peak of Kangchenjunga, the third-highest mountain in the world.

When his vision cleared out, he could see dragons flying around the mountain. Initially terrified, he jolted back down, afraid of being detected. Then, he understood that he was supposed to be on this peak.

One of the dragons, a dark green one, swooped down to him. "Dovahkiin..." it bellowed.

"What do you want?" Raylan groaned.

"Congratulations on your victory. You have defeated one of the ten Wyrmlords."

Raylan stood up and walked over to the dragon. "Wyrmlords? What are those?" he asked.

"They call themselves Wyrmlords as a sign of intimidation, but they are nothing more than Dragon Priests." the dragon informed.

"Dragon Priests?"

"Dragon Priests were wyrms who prayed to us and offered their devotion in exchange for immortality. When the time came, they took advantage of their powers and were eventually sealed away by our god, Legendus."

"If they were immortal, how could I have defeated one?"

The dragon laughed with its deep, bellowing voice. "Don't you get it? You are none other than the Dovahkiin!"

"What's the Dovahkiin?"

"Dovahkiin literally translates into your tongue as 'Dragonborn', the one destined to destroy the evil dragon, Osirin."

Raylan scratched his head. "Why me? You still didn't explain this immortality shit..." he grumbled.

"You were picked by Legendus based on your dragon powers. You are the only person who can absorb the soul of a Dragon Priest and grow in strength."

"Are those the lights that flew into me?"

"Yes, they give you power."

"What about Osirin? What role does he play in all of this?" Raylan asked.

"Osirin was the Dragon-god of what you now call the 'Middle East'. He took the wyrms into his land and corrupted them into his bidding."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because you are the only one who can stop them."

Raylan groaned. Why did it have to be him? "Okay, great, so when I was in the process of defeating the first one, I randomly had the urge to say three words..."

The dragon lifted its head up and smiled. "Fus ro dah!" it roared, spawning a wind from its mouth into the sky. "That is the spell humans call 'Unrelenting Force'. It is similar to Fire Breath, only that Unrelenting Force makes use of wind over fire."

"How did I do that?"

"When an amount of stress builds up on your body, you unlock a new combinatino of words in our language. This combinations makes use of a spell that you can use to your advantage."

Raylan pieced things together. "So the more souls I have, the more powerful these spells get..."

The dragon nodded. "Now you're starting to understand these things!" it exclaimed.

"Can I have some help, at least?"

The dragon nodded again. "Yes, you may stay on this peak overnight. If the other dragons deem you worthy, I will begin your training."

Raylan looked over to a small stone structure higher up on the mountain, which he assumed was where he would stay. "Are there any people in there?" he asked.

"There is a clan of four monks known as the Greybeards who take their residence in there. They are responsible for your summoning and are expecting you. They should be able to give you some information." the dragon said, starting to fly up to the sky.

"By the way, I never got your name." Raylan said.

Before taking off, the dragon looked to Raylan. "I am Paarthurnax." it grumbled, taking to the skies.


	28. Raylan the Dovahkiin

_It looks like I may never have to type the words 'Russian Federation' again in the location indicator. Well, I might have to once or twice in the future, but as far as the story goes, I have moved on from the large country!_

**==Kangchenjunga, Sikkim, India==**

Raylan trained with Paarthurnax and the Greybeards for several hours the next day. The Greybeards were impressed with Raylan's style of fighting and quick reflexes. It was evident that they approved of his choosing as the Dovahkiin.

Paarthurnax talked to the other dragons about the selection of the Dovahkiin. After watching Raylan's quick mastery of Unrelenting Force and receiving a convincing speech from Paarthurnax, the wiser dragons quickly approved of him.

Unrelenting Force was a type of attack called a Thu'um, or 'Shout'. Thu'ums are aggressiely pronounced words of the dragon language used as weapons. Raylan learned that several spells used against him such as the teleportation spells and fire breathing spells were also pieces of the Thu'um arsenal.

When Raylan's mastery of Unrelenting Force was complete, Paarthurnax and the Greybeards took him to a secluded cave with words carved in the dragon language. These words magically flowed into Raylan's body and he learned two new shouts: Fire Breath and Frost Breath. The words for the Fire Breath shout were 'yol toor shul', translating directly into 'fire inferno sun'. The words for the Frost Breath shout were 'fo krah diin', translating directly into 'frost cold freeze.' These were powerful spells that the dragons told Raylan to be responsible with.

The Greybeards also gave Raylan a small introductory guide book on fire which taught him how to spawn small flames from his palms. They told him that in time when he gains full mastery of the element, they would give him more advanced and adept books on the topic. The Greybeards also had books on the powers of ice and lightning, but they wanted to start Raylan off with something that he was familiar about.

The last thing he received from the Greybeards was an emerald sword with an orange glow around it. The sword was called the Glass Sword of Fire and burnt anyone who was unfortunate enough to be slashed by it. While the sword wasn't actually made of glass, it was smooth and actually light to carry. Due to its sleekness, it wasn't hard to pull out and fight quickly with. To keep Raylan unencumbered with carrying the sword around, they only made it accessible when he morphed into his suit.

Raylan learned that Osirin lead a group of dragons known as the 'dark dragons', dragons that mastered the power of shadows and could obliterate anything with their void breath. These dark dragons forged a war with the dragons that Raylan befriended, known as the elder dragons.

Raylan also learned that Exo was the first Dovahkiin and that his original name was Miraak Apocrypha. Instead of destroying Osirin and the rest of the dark dragons, he turned on the elder dragons to gain the knowledge of the powers of the void. As a result, he and the rest of the Dragon Priests were gifted with near immortality. The only way they and the rest of the dark dragons could be killed was if Raylan absorbed their souls.

When Raylan was done training his voice for the day, the Greybeards consulted with him and the other dragons. Paarthurnax swooped down and faced Raylan.

"Dragonborn, you have proven yourself worthy." Paarthurnax bellowed. "However, your approval has not been completed, yet."

Raylan nodded his head. "What is it that needs to be done?" he asked his dragon master.

Paarthurnax lowered his head to face Raylan. "There is a deep system of caverns in modern day Ukraine known as 'Valthume'. At the end of the caverns lies a 'Word Wall' for the shout Aura Whisper. But beware, the Dragon Priest Hevnoraak guards the wall wit his life. Exo has placed him there to prevent _you _from learning the treasured words."

"What's a Word Wall?" Raylan asked.

"A Word Wall is a cryptic wall with engravings in our language that contain words for a shout. It will teach you how to speak other words in our language. You learned the words for Fire Breath and Frost Breath through an ancient and large Word Wall." Paarthurnax answered.

"Why can't you just teach me the words?"

"Because the way we use the Thu'um in our tongue is beyond your comprehension. You must learn these spells from the forces that are already on your plane."

Raylan nodded. "I will go to Valthume, slay Hevnoraak, and learn Aura Whisper."

"Good, Dovahkiin." Paarthurnax said. He looked over to a red dragon perched up on a rock. "That dragon's name is Odahviing, he will be your assistant on this trip. You may fly on his back over to Valthume when you are ready. If ever you need his help, shout his name like you use your Thu'um and he will fly there as soon as possible."

"Don't I need three words for a Thu'um?" Raylan asked. "Isn't Odahviing only one word?"

"Every dragon's name is a combination of three words. Odahviing is seperated into 'od ah viing', translating into your tongue as 'snow hunter wing'." Paarthurnax answered.

Raylan nodded his head and looked at Odahviing. "I appreciate your help, Odahviing." he said, climbing on the red dragon's back.

"It is a pleasure to serve you, my Dovahkiin." Odahviing bellowed.

With that, Odahviing flapped his wings and took to the sky, carrying the Dovahkiin over to the deep caverns of Valthume.

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

All of the Rangers, apart from Gia, were starting to open up quite a bit with each other. As a result, they started to have large group gatherings in the mornings. Ever since their Java House meeting, they had been getting along fine.

Gia, on the other hand, was very cold to all of her teammates apart from Emma. She preferred to stay away from them and thought they were all weirdos. She had rather spent her time walking the halls and talking with Marty, who she had started to grow closer to. While Gia wasn't exactly the type of girl to fall into a relationship quickly, Marty certainly pulled her in. Eventually, they started holding hands with each other, drawing the jealousy of Jake Holling.

Holling zoned out from their group talk as he saw Gia walk past them, holding hands with Marty. She had stopped for a second to greet Emma and then went off on her way. "Man, why does she ignore me?" Holling threw his arms out. "She could at least acknowledge the fact that I exist." he groaned.

Noah put his hand on his best friend's shoulder. "Hey, we're all on the same boat. Even Emma isn't being treated like the friend she is."

Emma nodded in agreement. "As a friend, I have to admit that Gia can have her cold moments. In reality, she really isn't that bitter and just takes some getting used to." she said, trying to take some blame away from her best friend. "I guess she just isn't with me all the time because we see each other too much..." Emma said, looking off in the opposite direction.

By this time, Kenzie knew that Holling had something for Gia. While Kenzie thought he was cute, she had lost a substantial amount of interest in him. While she didn't think his chances of getting with Gia were very high, she didn't want to be a factor if he never did end up getting with her. As such, she decided it would be best if she kept out of his way.

Kenzie had also lost a small bit of infatuation with Troy. She had started to see the way Emma looked at him, and she didn't want to hold her back. Emma seemed to be really into the guy, and while he was a hunk, Kenzie thought Emma deserved him more.

On the topic of relationships, Jake Fernandez and Shayla had called it quits. While they ended on good terms, they weren't exactly as into each other as they had anticipated. She had understood that Jake was just a hormonally driven teenager and let be free, exploring the possibilities of different high school girls.

Alli looked at Chase when she realized that Jake was upset because he had practically lost Gia. She wanted to have one chance with Chase and wouldn't let him slip from her grasp.

"So, are you doing anything tonight?" she asked him quietly, trying to secure him for the day.

He nodded. "Well, I've got work in the evening, but the bar isn't really that busy on the weekdays. I guess you could swing by and we could talk a bit." he agreed.

She nodded, as well. "Sounds great to me! I'll be there at seven!"

"Actually, my shift starts at seven-thirty, so I can pick you up if you'd like!"

"Sure, sounds great!" Alli chirped. Not only had she made plans to be alone with Chase, but she had also got him to voluntarily pick her up.

Suddenly, their morphers warmed up. "Shit, they're getting hot." Nick mumbled. "We've got to get out of here."

Jake Fernandez looked around for a door to sneak out of. He saw one at the end of the hallway where nobody was. "Maybe we could leave through that exit." he led the team out the door.

Outside the school was a decent amount of lower tier wyrms. This was something the Rangers had grown familiar with after their first battle and knew they would be able to deal with this menace before the school day actually started.

Troy inspected the area to see if there was anybody nearby. "We're in the clear, let's morph!"

"It's morphin' time!" they shouted. "Go, go, Megaforce!"

Gia stumbled out of the door and morphed just in time. "Sorry I'm late! I didn't realize that something came up until I saw you run out the door. Anyways, go, go, Megaforce!" she exclaimed, surrounding herself in her yellow Ranger suit. "Let's get down to business!"

Holling shook his head. "Yeah, let's do whatever we have to do..." he mumbled. He had started to find himself as a colder person when he was in her presence.

The ten Rangers stormed onto the battlefield to fend off the minor threat.

* * *

**==Valthume, Crimea, Ukraine==**

Odahviing landed on a craggy outcrop in the Crimean province of Ukraine. He had flown Raylan to the area extremely fast to avoid being detected by humans. While dragons were considered a myth, they weren't exactly non-existent. They could still be seen by humans, but they were extremely good at hiding themselves within their surroundings. Most dragons chose to hide in the clouds as they flew.

Odahviing pointed Raylan to a small hole in the rocks. "Dovahkiin, that is Valthume." he bellowed.

Raylan nodded and suited up. "I'm ready to go in." he said.

"Remember, these caves aren't easy to traverse. They were created by our worshippers and were purposely made to only be navigated by those approved of us. There are some small pools of water where fish may inhabit, and there is a sanctuary where wildlife is able to flourish through a synthetic luminescent light created through magic. You should be able to survive quite a while in there."

Raylan nodded again. "That's right, I remember that Paarthurnax said that I might be in there for days." he said. "By the way, should Hevnoraak give me any trouble?"

"We chose to set you out against the weakest Dragon Priest to see how you fair. Should Hevnoraak give you any pain, we'll be forced to find a new Dragonborn."

"I will not fail you."

Odahviing lifted his had. "Dovahkiin, if you ever need my help, just shout my name. I will be there in a heartbeat. For the time being, I will just explore this surrounding area." he said before taking to the skies.

Raylan nodded and ran into the cave.


	29. Love Bites

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

When Friday rolled around, it was time for those to leave to Ukraine to bring all their bags to school. Only late Thursday night did the Harwood transfer students find out that it would be Jake Holling and Gia Moran that would be leaving to Ukraine with everyone else.

Jake was very thrilled by the fact that he would be spending his weekend with Gia. Since she didn't seem like the type of person who would be awkward and that Jake was the only person she actually knew decently, he felt like he would be able to make some progress with her.

What Jake didn't know, though, was that Gia was in no way, shape, or form willing to spend her weekend with Jake. She would rather be strapped onto an electric chair and zapped to death than have to get to know the creepy boy from her town who had been following her around everywhere.

Chase and Alli, on the other hand, had been making great progress with each other. From being arch-enemies at the start of the year to near best friends, they were doing great. Also, the fact that they secretly liked each other helped out their cause.

It was no surprise that Chase liked Alli. He had gone out of his way to do things for her, such as pick her up and drop her off whenever she needed to go somewhere. However, since Chase had a reputation as the guy who 'didn't date girls', he could only make it public to Kenzie that he loved Alli's company.

Alli liked Chase just as much as he liked her. She had dropped signs everywhere and had even tried to make herself look extra cute when in his presence. However, she had to hide her feelings from Chase to avoid any sort of awkwardness between them. She didn't know how he felt about her and didn't want to kill their friendship, despite the fact that he actually _did _like her.

At the end of the school day, the twenty-two students, including Jake and Gia, had to get on the school bus and head off to the Palisade Airport for their flight to Kiev. Chase and Alli already knew what to expect, so they had informed the two Harwood students that this wouldn't be as much of a vacation for them as it was for everyone else.

They were also informed that these overseas threats were worse than anything that had attacked Palisade. The wyrms that attacked Palisade only attacked the city to slow the Rangers' progress down, while the wyrms that attacked Eastern Europe did so with their real intent lying in the surrounding area.

"So you're saying that we're not going to have _any _sort of fun?" Gia asked, wide-eyed.

Jake shook his head. "Wow, sounds like a _great _vacation..." he groaned.

"We're not saying that you won't have fun." Chase reassured. "We're just saying that you're fun better be from kicking some serpent ass."

"Some _terrifying _serpent ass." Alli corrected.

"So let me get this straight." Gia said. "I'm supposed to find enjoyment in getting my ass handed to me?" she asked.

Chase nodded slowly. "Yeah, that's pretty much it."

Gia scoffed. "Is it too late to go home?"

Alli chuckled and shook his head. "You have no choice. Whether you like it or not, we need you. There's no turning back, now."

Gia slumped onto her seat and covered her face with her hands. "Being a Power Ranger sucks..."

"Yeah, but doesn't it feel rewarding saving lives?" Chase asked.

"No." Gia affirmed. The three of them weren't expecting Gia to give that sort of one word answer.

Alli signed and crossed her arms. "Too bad." she said. "You're doing this whether you like it or not."

* * *

Emma sat in the hotel room by herself. Since Gia was about to go to Ukraine, there was no one for her to talk to. The only thing she could think about was Troy. The love of her life was only a few doors down, and she couldn't even talk to him.

She pulled out her phone and went through her contacts. Ryleigh gave Emma her number just in case she needed any help. Emma sent a quick text to Ryleigh. "_i need help_" it read.

Ryleigh replied back rather quickly. "_With what?_"

"_i need to deal with some emotions_"

"_What kind of emotions?_"

Emma bit her lip and typed. "_love_"

"_Meet me at the Java House. There's someone I'd like you to meet._"

Emma sighed and changed into her decent clothes. She didn't like being open about her feelings, but if it made her feel better, she was all for it.

* * *

**==Valthume Depths, Crimea, Ukraine==**

Raylan had made his way deep in the caverns of Valthume. He had been in the extensive underground system for quite a few days trying to search for both the wall and the Dragon Priest. While the task had been long and daunting, he had no difficulty in navigating the caves. Whenever he got hungry, he would harvest some cave plants that grew in the moist areas. Whenever he needed something especially filling, he fished in some of the thermal pools, which were surprisingly filled with vibrant colored and healthy fish.

The cave, however, had been teeming with wyrms. Every other corner, Raylan would have to turn around to hack the head off of another pesky wyrm. The cave system had been littered with the mutilated body parts of the serpentine species, something Raylan took pride in leaving behind.

Finally, that Friday evening, Raylan found the loot he was looking for. The stone World Wall curved on the side of the cave and gave its words an emanating glow. Raylan stepped up in front of the wall and tried his best to read the glowing words.

"Nau daar revak golt drey Fredo zah rah miik ek _laas_..." Raylan read off the wall. "On this sacred ground did Fredo sacrifice her _life..." _he translated. "Het nok yngnavar gaafkodaav wo drey _yah_..." he continued. "Here lies Yngnavar Ghost-Bear who did _seek_..." he translated the second part. Finally, Raylan looked at the third part of the Word Wall. "Her man faasnu ronaan undveld aar kriid grohiik ahrk drog do lot _nir_..." Raylan read. "Here feel the fearless archer Undveld, servant, slayer, wolf, and lord of the Great _Hunt_..." Raylan translated.

That's when Raylan caught the three words that stood out. "Laas yah nir..." he mumbled. "Laas yah nir!" he shouted, firing a red wave out of his mouth.

The red wave scanned the room for life forms, showcasing the power of the shout. That's when Raylan understood the meaning of the Aura Whisper shout. It was a shout that allowed Raylan to detect hiding life forms. Raylan noticed that there was a life form hiding behind a rock that looked awfully familiar.

"Yol toor shul!" Raylan roared, breathing a blast of fire at the rock.

Hevnoorak floated from the area and levitated over to Raylan. "You've found me...now defeat me!" the Dragon Priest taunted, flying around the room.

Raylan growled his fists and followed Hevnoraak around the room. "Yol toor shul!" he continued shouting, trying his best to hit the evasive Dragon Priest.

Hevnoraak, on the other hand, was more accurate with his attacks. The Dragon Priest used his own Fire Breath shout on Raylan, which happened to his him directly each time.

Raylan stammered back after each hit. "Fighting fire with fire doesn't work..." he mumbled. "Fo krah diin!" Raylan shouted, blasting a beam or ice at Hevnoraak.

The ice froze Hevnoraak in the air and his frozen body crashed to the ground. Raylan pulled out his trustly Glass Sword of Fire and slashed at Hevnoraak until the Dragon Priest was no more than a pile of ashes. Raylan picked up the mask the Dragon Priest and brushed it off. The mask made a fine trophy.

Raylan looked all the way up and saw a small hole with light flooding in. He saw that as a perfect way to escape the cave without having to trek all the way back. "Odahviing!" he shouted, waiting for the dragon to arrive and carry him out of Valthume.

* * *

**==Underground Temple, Saudi Arabia==**

Exo gloated on his throne while awaiting word of the crisis in Valthume. It was only a matter of minutes before he heard that the Dragonborn had infiltrated their security in the dungeon.

One of the messengers race into the room. "I have news from Valthume!" he broke in.

"What is it?" Exo asked, hopping off his throne.

"It is terrible news...' the messenger mumbled.

"Out with it!" Exo exclaimed.

"Well, the Dragonborn got to the Word Wall. We have lost access to the Aura Whisper shout."

"Damn it!" Exo shouted. "What else?"

"Hevnoraak is...well...dead."

Exo clenched his fists. "That's two Dragon Priests down, seven to go." he muttered.

"Don't you mean eight counting yourself?" the messenger asked.

"Shut the hell up!" Exo roared. "I'll kill him myself!" he exclaimed.

"That's dangerous..."

"I said shut up!" Exo shouted. "Feim zii!"

* * *

**==Kiev, Kiev Oblast, Ukraine==**

The Rangers packed everything they had into their rooms. Chase and Jake chose to room together while Alli and Gia 'chose' to room together. Gia didn't want to room with Alli, but Alli forced her into submission.

Gia had been quiet the entire plane ride. She didn't open her mouth to any of her fellow Rangers. She thought that they were below her and already wanted to switch out of her role as the Yellow Ranger.

"This is all stupid." Gia groaned as she placed her packed clothes into the hotel drawers.

"No it's not, you'll get over it." Alli reassured. It was evident that Alli was getting tired of Gia's crap.

"I don't want any of this."

"Okay, what is it that you want?" Alli asked.

"I want that clown Jake to leave me alone." Gia crossed her arms.

"What's so bad about him?"

"He's a creepy piece of ass. He thinks he can get with me, but he's wrong."

"But you're a Ranger, you have to look past those things." Alli suggested.

"I hate being a Ranger." Gia stated.

"Why?"

"I'm busting my ass trying to save lives and don't even get any credibility?" Gia threw her arms out.

Alli scoffed. "If credibility is all you care about, then don't even bother helping us."

"Does it look like I want to?"

"Gia, I know you don't, but-"

Gia cut her off. "I'm going to go take a walk. Goodbye." she said, storming out of the room.

Alli shook her head. "She'll learn eventually." she mumbled to herself.

* * *

"Dude, it'll be fine." Chase reassured Jake.

"Why is she such a bitch to me?" Jake asked.

Chase shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea. Maybe it's because she knows how you feel about her."

Jake nodded. "Yeah, she knows..." he sighed.

"Then give her some space. Maybe that's all she needs."

"But, I love her..."

"I can understand why she feels this way." Chase said. "I mean, I feel you, don't get me wrong, but you're probably creeping her out. If you want to show her you care, then leave her alone."

"But, she's my biggest weakness..."

"Look, I'm going to tell you _my_ biggest weakness: it's Alli. I'm mad crazy for that girl, but I value the friendship we share. We came a long way from despising each other to actually making up, and I don't want to stall that progress. Of course I think she's beautiful and all that, but I respect her space. Maybe that's all Gia wants."

Jake was silent.

"How does that sound?" Chase asked.

"I think you're right."

Chase smirked. "Aren't I always?"

* * *

Gia had been walking around Kiev for about half-an-hour doing absolutely nothing. She didn't know any Ukrainian, so shewas completely lost. Part of her wanted to be lost forever, while the other part was scared.

Gia walked into a dark alley and looked around her. Nothing was familiar; she was scared. There were several loud thuds behind her and she cowered.

"Yellow Ranger..." something hissed.

Gia turned around to face Exo. "Who are you? What do you want?" she asked weakly.

"You." Exo smirked.

Gia shook her head and trembled. She was just a lost little girl who wanted someone to help her. Everything strong about her was just an act. When she needed help the most, nobody was there for her. She fell on her knees and looked up at the terrifying monster.

"No..." Gia whimpered.

A dragon flew above them and a shadowy figure jumped off its back. "Fus ro dah!" the figure shouted from midair, blowing Exo back a bit.

Raylan landed in between Gia and Exo.

"Damn Dragonborn!" Exo exclaimed. "Why do you always have to ruin my plans?"

"It's my job." Raylan smirked. "Fo krah diin!" he roared, breathing ice on the wyrm.

Exo got up slowly. "I'll be back! Feim zii!" he shouted, teleporting away.

Raylan walked over to Gia and helped her up. "It looks like you could use a hand, Gia." he said.

"Who are you and how do you know my name?" she asked with a hint of tears in her voice.

"I'm Raylan Westbrook, you may have heard about me from Ryleigh."

Gia sniffled and nodded slowly. "Yeah, I think so. You're the leader of the Power Rangers, right?'

Raylan shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I was. Not so much anymore. I think Ryleigh boasts that title, now."

"How did you know I was here?"

"I didn't, I was actually looking for Exo." Raylan answered.

"Who's Exo?" Gia asked.

"The thing that tried attacking you a few minutes ago. He's the leader of the monsters you guys are fighting off." Raylan noticed the tears in her eyes. "Are you okay? Is there something you need to talk about?" he asked her.

"Yeah, there's a lot I need to talk about." Gia replied.

Raylan put his arm around the younger girl's shoulder. "Come walk with me, I'm a good listener." he said.


	30. Husband and Wife Advice

**==Kiev, Kiev Oblast, Ukraine==**

Raylan and Gia walked down a sidewalk around the city of Kiev so Gia could rant about her problems. Raylan suggested not going back to the hotel until she was ready so all her steam would have been blown out and she would be able to start fresh. Luckily, he knew Ukrainian, which made it easier to get around.

"What was that all about?" Gia asked.

"What was _what _all about?"

"The dragon thing. Where did that come from?"

Raylan smirked. "Don't worry about that. So, what did you want to talk about?"

"This whole Ranger business. I can't do it. I don't _want _to do it."

"Whether or not you want to be a Ranger, you were still selected for this." Raylan said.

"That doesn't help..." Gia bit her lip.

"It shoudn't help."

"Then what's the point of trying to calm me down?"

Raylan sighed. "I know I'm not the best at advice, but you're never supposed to be calm. A weak Ranger is a relaxed Ranger. The enemies will see straight throguh your unguarded self and blow past you. You should always remain paranoid and fearful."

Gia groaned. "What kind of life is that? I thought life was about achieving happiness."

Raylan smirked. "Life is about certain people achieving happiness at the expense of others. Right now, the Power Rangers are those others. We were chosen to take one for the team, in this case, the sake of humanity."

"But I don't want to do this..."

Raylan put his arm around Gia's shoulders. "Listen, kid, I know you have potential, but you're just a bit reclusive. If you give your other teammates a chance to know who you are, they'll be able to help you and you'll eventually have fun doing this."

"About my teammates. There's one I want to talk about in particular..." she trailed off. "Jake Holling."

Raylan raised his eyebrow. "Love trouble?" he asked.

Gia frowned. "It's not love. It's not even _close _to love."

"So what's the problem, then?"

"He can't get over me. He's been after me for so long, and now he actually thinks he has his chance because we're both Rangers."

"Has he done anything bad to you?" Raylan asked.

Gia shook her head. "He doesn't have the balls. He likes me too much." she chuckled.

Raylan smiled when he saw Gia's face. "See, what's there to worry about?" he asked. "If he truly cares about you, what could possibly go wrong?"

Gia started to smile. "Now that I think about it, it's not that bad. The only problem is that I'm hung up on another guy..." she bit her lip again.

"Do you really like him?" Raylan asked.

Gia half-nodded. "Well, kinda. We're not official or anything, but I wouldn't mind it."

"I only have one thing to say to you, and that's to give Jake a chance. You don't have to like him or anything, but just show him that you care about him. Teammates are supposed to be there for one another, and I'm sure as hell he'd be there for you if you were held in a cage in another dimension."

Gia nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right." she said as they approached the hotel. "Well, I'll be in his room, then. I think I need to go apologize."

Raylan nodded and walked in the hotel with her. "I'll be on the fifth floor, room 505. Come by if you ever need anything."

Gia smiled and waved him goodbye. There was a guy she had to apologize to.

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Emma walked into the Java House not knowing what to expect. Ryleigh had told her that there was somebody she had to meet to deal with her emotions. Emma usually never talked to anyone but Gia about how she felt, but it seemed like today would be the day she would break the pattern.

She wanted to talk about her infatuation with Troy. She had barely known him for a few days, but she felt she had known him for much longer. She had never felt such an intense love for a guy before, but Troy definitely seemed to pull her in.

After a quick scan of the area, she found Ryleigh sitting at a table with a pretty blonde about Ryleigh's age. The blonde woman was feeding a baby who was sitting on the table.

Emma sat down with both of them and smiled softly. "Hi, I'm Emma, and that's a really cute baby." she said to the blonde.

The blonde smiled back. "Thank you! Her name is Casey. Anyways, it's funny because I'm _also _Emma. Well, my name is Emma Westbrook. I don't suppose that's your last name, as well?" the blonde asked. She fed more food to her baby daughter.

Emma Goodall's eyes popped out. "Wow, well my last name definitely isn't Westbrook. I guess I should have introduced myeslf better. I'm Emma Goodall."

Ryleigh clapped her hands together and looked at the two. "Now that we're acquainted, let's get straight to business. We're here because Emma Goodall here needs help dealing with some emotions of hers."

Emma Goodall nodded. "Yeah, I'm kind of falling for someone..." she said. She didn't know whether or not Emma Westbrook was a Ranger, so she just decided to keep her identity secret for a little bit.

"Let me guess, is it the Red Ranger?" the older Emma asked.

Emma Goodall nodded her head. "Well, now that I know you're a Ranger, I guess you know that I'm a Ranger. But yeah, it's the Red Ranger, Troy."

Emma Westbrook smiled. "I was in love with the Red Ranger, too. We actually ended up getting married and all, so it worked out in the end. Well, he wasn't the Red Ranger at the time, but you get the point." Emma said, taking a breath to pause.

Ryleigh chuckled and looked to the older Emma. "You tend to get giddy a lot, don't you?" she asked her.

Emma Westbrook scratched her head. "Yeah, I do..."

The younger Emma looked up to the two. "So...how do I deal with this?" she asked. "Isn't that why I'm here?"

The older Emma chuckled. "That's right, I guess we should get down to business. First things first, how do you feel?"

"I can't get him out of my sights."

"Does he feel the same way about you?"

Emma Goodall shook her head. "He doesn't even know I exist. It's pretty pathetic." she looked to her older counterpart. "So what do I do?"

"Nothing. You do absolutely _nothing_."

"Why would I do nothing?"

"Because, after a while, you realize that your Ranger duties come before your petty little love-issues. You'll learn in time that you have to push these things off to the side if you have to save the world."

Emma Goodall smiled. "Thanks, Emma, I think I actually get this now."

Emma Westbrook patted the younger girl on her shoulder. "It was my pleasure, Emma."

* * *

**==Kiev, Kiev Oblast, Ukraine==**

Jake Holling tossed his soccer ball back and forth with Chase. After talking for a little bit, they realized that they had nothing else to talk about and decided to play a little game of catch to pass the time.

A knock on the door caught the two off guard and Jake missed his catch. He rushed over to the door and found Gia and Alli standing there.

"What are you two doing here?" he asked. He looked around the room. "Come on in." he invited them in.

Gia took a seat on the bed. "Come sit down next to me." she said to Jake, patting the side of the bed next to her to allow him to sit down.

Chase sat down on the other bed and watched them. "This should be interesting..." he mumbled to himself.

Alli sat down on the side of the bed next to him. "She'll do the right thing..." she whispered to him.

Gia looked up at Jake. "I know these past few days have been rough...for both of us." she sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we've been throttled with Ranger powers, we've been thrown into battles without learning how to fight, and we've been dealing with emotions."

Jake appeared confused. "What kind of emotions?" he asked her.

Gia sighed and clasped her hands together. "It's no surprise to me that you like me...and..."

Jake scratched his head and groaned. "I should have known this would be a-"

Gia interrupted him with a kiss on the cheek. "While I don't share mutual feelings with you, I do have to say that I'm sorry." she apologized.

Jake was shocked. "Sorry? For what?" he asked.

Gia looked nervously in the other direction. "I was such a bitch to you and I shouldn't have done that. While I've never particularly loved someone who doesn't love me back, I can say that I feel for you. I'm really sorry about being so cold to you and shutting you out."

Jake was silent. "Uhh..."

"Jake, you're a great guy and I never gave you the opportunity to get to know me. Whether or not you want me for who I am or for my body, we _are _teammates and we _are _meant to be friends."

Jake was dumbfounded. "I would like that." he finally said.

Gia held her hand out to him. "So, what do you say? Friends?"

Jake grasped her hand and shook it. "Friends." he smiled. He looked over to the clock. "It's kind of late, shouldn't you be hittin' the bed?" he asked her.

Alli moved in closer to Chase. "Looks familiar, doesn't it?" she smirked.

Chase pulled her in. "Yeah, it does look familiar. _But_, I realy do think you should hit the bed, too."

Alli and Gia got up and looked at the two. "Remember, we have to be in the lobby at seven-A.M. for our tour of Kiev. Don't sleep in!" Alli reminded them.

"We won't." the boys replied in unison as they watched the two girls leave.

"Wow, she didn't need to apologize to me." Jake said.

"Why?" Chase asked.

"Because she never hurt me."

* * *

Alli and Gia lay in their seperate beds. Alli was proud of Gia for finally being the bigger person and apologizing to Jake. Gia also felt good about herself for actually doing he right thing.

"I'm proud of you, Gia." Alli said. "That took some guts. You're a brave girl."

Gia smirked to herself. "Well, it _did _take some help from another person."

"Who?"

"Have you met Raylan yet?"

"Yeah, he gave us our powers."

"Well, he gave me a bit of advice. He basically told me to give Jake a chance. I realized to myself that maybe Jake isn't that bad of a guy."

"So, what do you think of him?" Alli asked suspiciously.

"Oh, come on, I don't like him or anything, but he is a nice guy. He'll make a great _friend_. Notice how I emphasized the last word."

Alli chuckled. "The poor guy just got friendzoned. Suddenly, she propped up. "Wait a minute, Raylan's here in Kiev?" she asked abruptly. "That's not good."

"Why isn't that good?"

"Because everywhere he goes, a monster attack follows. He usually comes out to a city whenever he feels it may be threatened."

Gia's eyes widened. "Shit. We have to be on patrol tomorrow."

Alli nodded. "Don't worry, Chase and I have done this before in Moscow."

Gia smiled. "I'm trusting you guys to lead us."

"Trust me, with Raylan on the field, you don't need either me or Chase."


	31. Emma's Visions

**==Underground Temple, Saudi Arabia==**

Exo was fuming about Raylan's bad timing. He was planning on kidnapping a Ranger and then luring the others into his trap, but once again the Dragonborn was there to stop him in his tracks.

He looked to one of his servants. "Fetch me Krosis!" he ordered.

The servant quickly ran out and back in with Krosis. "What is thy bidding, master?" Krosis hissed.

Exo stepped off his throne to face Krosis. "I want you to go to Ukraine...Chernobyl, to be exact...and infiltrate the nuclear security system. See what they did wrong and how the meltdown was triggered. We may need to use it in the future."

Krosis nodded. "I will do as you ask, master. Is there anything else you would like me to do?" the Dragon Priest asked.

Exo smirked. "Before you go there, I want you to go to the damned Dovahkiin's residence and tease him with your plans. Draw him in to your location and then go in for the kill."

Krosis nodded. "What if this plan backfires?" he asked.

Exo jumped back to his throne. "I will still have six Dragon Priests remaining. If you fail, I will simply replace you." Exo affirmed.

Krosis nodded. "I will destroy him, master."

"Be wary, he has stolen our Aura Whisper shout."

"Master, I have the Cyclone shout, I can handle that mortal."

Exo nodded. "Do not fail me."

* * *

**==Kiev, Kiev Oblast, Ukraine==**

Raylan was having the best sleep of his life until he heard a thud. Before he even thought about getting up, he already knew where this was going. He would put his head up an see a Dragon Priest on the other side.

He put his head up and confirmed his suspicions. A new Dragon Priest was on the other side. "What do you want at this time?" Raylan asked, looking at the clock.

"I want you to find me." Krosis hissed.

Raylan groaned and scratched his eyes. "Come on, man. Couldn't you have picked a better time to do this to me?" he asked.

Krosis shook his head. "I will be in Chernobyl. Come find me if you want."

Raylan shook his head as well and walked over to Krosis. "Listen, if you don't leave in the next sixty seconds, I _will _beat the shit out of you."

Krosis smirked. "Your species are daanik. Doomed." Krosis said.

"60, 59, 58, 57..." Raylan counted. Krosis just stood there and watched for a solid minute. "...4, 3, 2, 1." Raylan continued. Without hesitating, he threw his fist straight at Krosis.

Before Raylan's fist could make contact with the Dragon Priest, he used the teleportation shout. "Feim zii!" Krosis shouted, teleporting away.

Raylan scratched his head and fell back into the bed. He was no longer confused, but instead was annoyed. He was more concerned about getting a good night's sleep rather than putting up with these petty threats.

He couldn't wait to finally kill all of them.

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Emma Westbrook took Casey home when the conversation with the other Emma was over. She locked the door behind her and instantly went upstairs to put Casey to sleep. When she got to the bedroom, she instantly put Casey in her crib.

She went over to her bed and saw the voicemail light on her telephone flashing. She picked it up and listened to the voicemail.

"Hey, baby." she recognized Raylan's voice. She had a feeling that it would be him. "I just wanted to let you know that I'll be heading to Chernobyl in a few minutes. Unfortunately, I won't be able to call you when I get there because it's highly radioactive."

Emma gasped. Why was her husband going to a nuclear wasteland?

"Anyways..." he continued. "I just wanted to let you know...that...if you don't...you know...hear back...from me...that obviously means...uhh..."

Emma knew what he was about to say, but she couldn't bear to hear it.

"...that kinda means that I'm...uhh...d-d-dead." he paused. "Sorry, babe, for having to say that." he apologized.

The voicemail ended and Emma tumbled onto her bed. She looked at her daughter again and gasped at the thought that there was always a chance she would be raised fatherless. While he always went on missions like this, she still never felt like he was ever totally safe.

* * *

**==Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Dream World==**

Emma found herself inside of a power plant-esque structure. She slowly got up and scratched her eyes to clear them out. When her vision returned to normal, she could see that she was in the basement of a nuclear plant.

"Chernobyl." she mumbled to herself. She knew she was dreaming, so she went along with it.

Suddenly, something crashed from the ceiling above. To her surprise and disappointment, it was her husband, and he was unmorphed. It made her feel uneasy that he was in such a compromising position.

"Raylan!" she shrieked as he groaned on the floor.

She could tell by his behavior that he couldn't hear her. She was merely a spirit in a dream witnessing her biggest nightmare. Then, a heavily armoured and ancient-looking wyrm floated down in front of her, blocking her view of her husband.

"Krosis, you'll never win." Raylan said as he slowly got up. "You think blowing up the damn world will accomplish something, but you're wrong."

While his voice was coarse and weak, Emma couldn't help but smile and bite her lip. She knew her husband was courageous and fearless, so she was proud of his appropriate word choice.

"Accept viik." the wyrm, who she assumed to be named Krosis, said. She wasn't exactly sure what 'viik' meant.

"I am not defeated, yet." Raylan said. Emma used her Stanford-educated context clues and assumed that 'viik' meant 'defeat'.

Raylan created a sword of fire and swung at Krosis, striking at his chest. Krosis retaliated and snatched the sword from Raylan's hands. He quickly stabbed Raylan in his heart, killing him instantly.

Emma gulped and fell to the floor. It wasn't real anymore. She couldn't feel herself.

Krosis floated over to her and took notice of her spirit. "I have slain your _ahmul_, your husband." he said, laughing.

Emma grabbed her head and slammed it on the floor. Suddenly, she heard sharp screams until her vision blurred to a void of black,

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Emma threw herself out of bed at the screaming. After panting for a few seconds, she realized that Casey was the one crying. Emma groaned and got out of bed to change Casey's diaper.

When she finished, she lurched over felt her body hit the floor. She started to hyperventilate as she once again fell into a sleep.

* * *

**==Dragon Void, Dream World==**

Emma slowly got up in a green, smoky room. Her vision this time was not blurred and she got accustomed to it quite quickly. She looked at herself and saw that she was in hr Ranger Suit, minus the helmet. In front of her stood a giant rock with three glowing symbols. A dragon flew down onto the rock and faced her.

"What's going on with my husband?" she asked the dragon. "I want to know everything."

"Patience, human." the dragon bellowed. "Come and face these three words." it called to her.

Emma reluctantly walked over to the wall and looked at the three words. She coudln't recognize the font of the symbols, but something told her that it was pronounced 'raan mir tah'.

"Ran mir tah?" she asked the dragon.

The dragon seemed to smile. "Good, you can read our language as well as your husband. 'Raan mir tah' translates into your tongue as 'animal allegiance pack'."

"My husband can read this crap?" she asked the dragon.

The dragon laughed. "Yes, he is actually very good at it. He is the Dovahkiin, or Dragonborn, the one prophesized to destroy Exo and his wyrm army."

"So, how do I play into this?"

"As his wife, you are to acquire a small amount of his powers to fight by his side. You are gifted with the ability to read our language and use our 'shouts'."

"Shouts? What are those?" she asked.

"What you just read on the wall was a shout for 'Animal Allegiance'. Shouts are like powerful spells that are spawned like a storm out of your mouth."

"What does Animal Allegiance do?"

"It is a very helpful shout that calls animals from the wild to fight by your side."

Emma smiled. "That's actually kind of cool. Can I use the same ones as him?" she asked.

"Well, _he_ can use the same ones as you, but _you _can't use the same ones as him. Since he is the true Dovahkiin, he has access to all the shouts."

Emma nodded. "Wow, that's awesome." she smiled. "But what about my previous nightmare? What was that all about?"

The dragon raised his head. "I can't tell you everything you want to know." he stated.

Emma frowned. "What's your name?" she asked him.

"I am Odahviing, the winged snow hunter." he stated. "I am Raylan's personal dragon, if that makes you feel more comfortable."

Emma smiled. "It does."

"Now I must send you back to your world. It's time to wake up!"

* * *

**==Kiev, Kiev Oblast, Ukraine==**

Alli woke up to a heated morpher. "Shit!" she shouted, jumping out of bed.

"What's going on?" Gia asked, scratching her hair.

"There's an attack on the city!" Alli exclaimed, throwing decent clothes on.

Gia's eyes widened as she jumped out of bed, as well. "Damnit!" she exclaimed.

There was loud knocking on the door and Alli answered. When she opened the door, Chase and Jake rushed into the room.

"Quick! Let's morph and jump out of the window!" Chase commanded.

"Dude, we're on the 11th floor!" Jake replied.

"Doesn't matter!" Alli broke in. "We're Power Rangers, we can do anything!"

"It's morphin' time!" Alli and Chase chanted in unison.

"Go, go, Megaforce!" Gia and Jake chanted in unison.

They quickly morphed into their respective Rangers and jumped straight out of the window. Luckily, their suits took most of the damage as the recuperated from the falls. They looked around and saw a small amount of lesser wyrms.

Alli sighed with relief. "Phew, it's something we can handle." she said before rushing into the battlefield.

* * *

**==Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Kiev Oblast, Ukraine==**

Raylan morphed and stealthily moved around the ruins of the desolate nuclear facility to avoid detection from both the wyrms and the authorities. While he was in there for a good purpose, he was still tresspassing and acting as a vigilante.

He was alerted of the small attack on Kiev by Gadget-X. Fortunately, the teenagers were able to get on the scene and resolve everything quickly and professionally. Even more fortunately, no lives were lost.

"_Be careful in there_." Gadget-X's voice said through Raylan's communicator.

"Bro, I got this." Raylan assured the robot.

"_Don't do anything too risky. With one mistake, that entire place could blow up in just a matter of seconds._"

"Don't worry, seriously."

"_Okay, so I'm not picking up that many wyrms in the area. There are only about five lesser wyrms and one Dragon Priest. I think you should be able to handle this._"

Raylan nodded and continued moving. He heard a small thud behind him and quicly hid behind a wall. When he felt the coast was clear, he took a small peek and saw two lesser wyrms, a red one and a blue one, in conversation.

"Trust me, the Dovahkiin will come here like fishbait." the red wyrm told the blue one.

The blue one laughed. "He thinks he is such a kendov."

Raylan wasn't fluent in Dragonspeak, but he knew that 'kendov' meant 'warrior'. He peeked some more and saw that the two wyrms talking were the only ones in the vicinity. He quickly got in between them and stabbed them each with the Glass Sword of Fire.

He moved on and saw green, yellow, and purple lesser wyrms guarding a door. When they each turned to face one direction, Raylan ran at all of them and stabbed them quickly. The five lesser wyrms were taken care of, leaving Krosis as the only other enemy in the plant.

Raylan kicked down the door and saw Krosis harvesting some sort of blue energy.

"Dovahkiin!" Krosis exclaimed, putting the energy away. "Why do you come and ruin my plans?"

"It's time to add your mask to my collection." Raylan taunted, rushing at the Dragon Priest. His only regret was not taking Sutekh's mask.

Krosis laughed and shot a fireball from his staff at Raylan. "How do you like me, now?" the Dragon Priest asked.

The impact of the fireball knocked Raylan off his feet and unmorphed him. Krosis shot another fireball at the foor near Raylan, sending him through the ground and into the basement.

Raylan hit the ground hard and lay there, groaning. Krosis floated from the hole and stood over Raylan.

"Krosis, you'll never win." Raylan got up slowly but proudly.

"Accept viik." Krosis said.

"I am not defeated, yet." Raylan replied. By this time through training with the Greybeards, Raylan knew that 'viik' meant 'defeat'.

Raylan spawned his Glass Sword at Fire and swung it at Krosis, striking at his chest.

"Dovahkiin! That hurt!" Krosis exclaimed.

Raylan took another swing at Krosis, but this time he missed. Krosis used the recoil time to snatch the sword straight out of Raylan's hands.

"It looks like the tables have turned." Krosis laughed.

"Yol toor shul!" Raylan roared, blasting fire at the Dragon Priest. Krosis flew back and hit a wall. "Yol toor shul!" Raylan roared again, incinerating him. Raylan stood over the Dragon Priest's body, let his soul flow through him, and picked up his mask.

"Three down, seven to go." Raylan chuckled, dusting Krosis's mask off.


	32. Crush Twist

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

After a rough weekend in Ukraine, everbody was glad to be back in the States. Even Raylan was allowed to come home to family for the week. Since updates were slow on the whereabouts of Dragon Priests, his use overseas was minimal. Besides, he owed his wife a lot of diaper-changing days.

"Ew, her poop is really smelly today!" Raylan complained.

Emma chuckled. "Casey's getting to be a big girl. They'll only get worse as she grows older."

Raylan shook his head. "I really need to buy some nose-plugs." he said.

"Oh, come on, it's not that bad."

"It _is _that bad."

"You'll get used to it. After all, I bet this comes from _your _side of the family." Emma stuck her tongue out.

"Oh, hush up. I'll have you know that I was an amazing baby." Raylan stated. He noticed that his wife appeared uneasy. "What's up with the sudden change in emotion? Is everything all right?" he asked her.

Emma bit her lip. "There's something we need to talk about..." she mumbled.

"Like what?"

"Your job. I had a dream about a red dragon named Odahviing..."

Raylan half-smiled. "He's a good guy, he won't hurt you."

"It's not that, it's just..." Emma trailed off.

"It's what?"

"It's Casey. I don't want some freak accident on the job to leave our little girl fatherless." Emma admitted.

Raylan fell silent. He looked over to the little girl who was playing around with blocks. When she saw her father looking at her, she giggled and toddled over to him. Raylan sniffled and picked her up. He cuddled his daughter close to his chest.

"Casey, I love you..." Raylan's words were broken by tears.

Emma sniffled and hugged her husband and daughter. "Don't leave us..." she cried with him.

"I won't _ever _do something like that to you guys. There's never a second where I don't think about you two."

Casey sensed sadness in the room and started crying with her parents. Raylan rubbed her cheeks to try and get her to smile, but the little girl had already realized their emotional state.

"Emma, my job is to protect you when the going gets tough. No matter what, I'll always be the front line of defense for you two." Raylan assured Emma.

"Just make me feel safer."

"How?"

"I don't know...maybe keep your phone on speaker when talking to the general or filling me in on mission details or something..."

Raylan chuckled. "That's kinda illegal."

"We're Power Rangers. Our missions have resulted in the destruction of buildings worth millions of dollars. Wasn't that also kinda illegal?" Emma asked.

"But..."

"Not to mention, we accidentally took orders from a criminal mastermind who was disguised as our leader." Emma reminded.

Raylan sighed. "Fine..."

Emma nodded her head. "Be careful, baby. I love you." she sniffled.

Casey sensed that the mood changed from sad to calm. She sucked her thumb to go along with it.

Randomly, the five Color Capsules that were gray from the time Raylan had found them had lit up. Raylan put Casey down and slowly walked over to them.

"What the hell?" he asked, turning around to face his wife and child.

* * *

Chase, Alli, Jake, and Gia were all at the Java House during day off of school. Every time they came back from a trip, they were granted a free day off of school in order to get accustomed to North Carolina time and get a good rest at home.

Fortunately for Chase, it wasn't his work shift, so he didn't have to do anything. Also, he enjoyed an employee's benefit by getting his drinks at an extreme discount. While he got his drinks discounted, the others didn't.

"So you have the power of Horus?" Jake asked Chase.

It had been a while since the Rangers even thought about the spirit they represented. Nothing they had done so far had anything to do with their representative animal, so they tended to forget about it after a while.

"Yeah, apparently." Chase replied, sipping some of his chocolate frap. "Alli has a Serpopard, I think..."

"What's a Serpopard?" Gia asked.

Alli chuckled. "I honestly have no idea. I'm guessing it's some weird cross between a serpent and a leopard. I don't know how that would look, though."

"Why couldn't we have just had simple animals like a Tiger or a Snake like you guys?" Chase asked.

Jake shrugged. "I guess we just got lucky." he answered.

"Why have we never had to use them?" Gia asked. "I mean, they must all mean something."

"Now that you mention it..." Alli cut in. "Ryleigh did tell us once that we put giant robots to use. What were they called again?"

"Zords. They were called Zords." Chase answered. "They were used to combine with each other and create a larger robot."

"How did you know that?" Gia and Jake asked in unison.

"I did some research on my own." Chase proudly answered. "After the whole Smalltown shenanigans, there were different reports everywhere online. I guess I just decided to pull some up to see what they said."

"Wow, that's...well...impressive." Gia responded.

Jake picked off the way Gia looked at Chase and he instantly felt sick. While he was no love doctor, he could see Gia's eyes had a glint of admiration. He swallowed and tried not to throw up.

"Bro, are you okay?" Chase asked Jake.

Jake shook his head. "It's all _your _fault..." he hissed at Chase. Suddenly, he got up and left the table.

Chase widened his eyes and grabbed Jake's arm. "Dude, what's wrong?" he asked.

Jake viciously freed himself. "Leave me alone, asshole." he growled before he stormed out.

Chase shrugged and followed him out. "Jake! Wait up!" he shouted.

Gia sighed and looked at Alli. "So I guess we should be heading home, then?" she suggested.

"Yeah, should I give you a lift?" Alli asked, holding up her car keys.

"Sure, I'm not in the mood to walk." Gia replied.

Alli chuckled. "Have you ever known Jake to have these weird mood swings?" she asked.

Gia shook her head. "I hardly even know the guy." she said as she stopped and smiled. "By the way, how long have you known Chase?" she asked.

"I've known who he was for a little while, but I only started to talk to him this year."

Gia looked to see if Chase was anywhere to be seen and then smirked. "He's kinda cute."

* * *

Jake didn't have a vehicle to drive in Palisade, so it wasn't hard for Chase to track him down. He found Jake walking aimlessly down an alleyway. Chase got out of his car and ran over to Jake.

"Dude, what the hell happened in there?" Chase asked.

Jake stopped walking and faced Chase. "You took my girl from me."

Chase appeared baffled. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Me and Gia were just making amends and _you _had to get in between. Congrats, prick." Jake turned around and kept walking.

Chase tugged on Jake's sleeve. "Hey, I seriously don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"Couldn't you see the way Gia looked at you?"

"No..."

Jake groaned and shook his head. "Wow, not only do you steal girls, but you're also an insensitive jerk."

Chase was still confused. "How about you explain things to me _before _calling me names?"

"Gia likes you." Jake stated.

Chase stopped in his tracks. "What..." he said quietly.

"Yeah, that's right. Gia. Likes. You."

"But..."

"Don't give me the 'buts', you're the asshole who pulled her in. Now I say you go ahead and take it before I kick your ass."

"Take what?"

"Gia!" Jake shouted. "Goddamn it, talking to you is like talking to a brick wall, only a brick wall doesn't say stupid shit like you do."

"Umm..."

Jake sighed. "Listen, I'm sorry. I really don't know what got into me. I guess I was just so defensive over my relationship with her right now that I didn't want anything else to get in the way. I just felt a little protective of the making up that we're doing."

"Well..."

"And yeah, I understand that Gia doesn't like me, and she may _never _like me, so I can understand why she took an interest in you. I don't blame her at all, in fact, I should be praising her for choosing you over that asshole Marty."

Chase didn't know what to say. He didn't have any feeling whatsoever for Gia, but he felt like he was at fault for Jake's emotions.

"Listen, Jake, I just want to clarify that I don't have any emotional attachment to Gia. I don't want her getting in the way of me and Alli." Chase admitted.

Jake sighed again. "Well, I guess now that that's over with..."

"Wanna head back to the Java House?" Chase suggested.

"Sure."

Chase smiled. "Something tells me that the two of them aren't there anymore."

"Who cares? It can be, like, a bro bonding session." Jake laughed.

* * *

Alli gulped as she heard Gia talk about Chase. While Alli hadn't come clean to Gia about her feelings for Chase, it hurt to see another girl try to beat her to him. She didn't want to tell Gia off since Gia was the one who was honest about her feelings. In the rulebook of dating, the first person to come clean usually got a head start towards the guy.

"Wow, I didn't know he was such a man." Gia smiled.

"Yeah..." Alli replied quietly.

The entire car ride had been a one-sided conversation with Gia doing most of the talking. It was astonishing how much the girl already knew about Chase.

"What about Jake?" Alli asked. "Wouldn't he feel a little...bad?"

Gia groaned. "He's a really nice kid and I was wrong about everything I said about him, but I don't know if I'm really ready to think about him the same way."

Alli's heart lit up. "So that means you'd like Jake if the time came?" she asked.

"Well, if he proves to be the guy he claims he is, then of course I would. Apart from the whole coffee shop mood swing, I think he's a great guy. It's a little too early for me to return his feelings, but I would if I really saw through him."

"Considering the fact that it'll be us four for a while, I think you guys will definitely come together.

Gia smiled. "Yeah, he has our backs on the battlefield. I'm glad he knows what he's doing."

Alli smiled back. "Just tell me if you're ever considering Jake, and, you know..."

"Yeah, of course!"

Alli sighed with relief. "I really hope Chase managed to talk some sense into him..."

* * *

Ryleigh sat up all night in the study room grading papers. It wasn't something that she wasn't used to, but it was a nuisance. While she loved her job and the interaction with the kids, she felt like it was a huge weight on her chest, especially with Alissa. She was thankful to have a caring husband like Johnny who could play the mother as well as the father in her absence.

In the kitchen, Johnny was feeding Alissa. Since he was a rocker, he had a lot of free time whenever the band wasn't touring or recording. Luckily, the band only entered the studio in two weeks, leaving Johnny home to take care of Alissa for a good while in Ryleigh's absence.

"Alissa, why don't you eat your carrots?" he complained.

Alissa babbled while playing with her Cheerios. She was more focused on the honey-flavored treat over the orange vegetables.

Johnny groaned. "Come on, girl, you've got to grow and become a big kid!"

"No!" Alissa stated.

Unfortunately for Johnny and Ryleigh, 'no' was Alissa's first word. She had learned the word about a month ago and had been repeatedly saying it for everything since then. This became an irritation and earsore for the parents.

"This is going to take some time..." Johnny mumbled. Suddenly, he heard the phone ring. He ran over to it and picked it up. "King residence, how may I help you?"

"Hey, what's up?" Raylan's voice said on the other line. "Is Ryleigh there."

"Yeah, bro, I'll get it over to her." Johnny replied. "Ryleigh!" he called.

"What do you want?" Ryleigh yelled from the other room.

"Raylan's on the phone!"

Ryleigh picked up her phone. "Hey, Raylan." she answered.

"I'm going to need you to find another Ranger."

"Why?" Ryleigh asked.

"It's a long story and I found a sixth Color Capsule. I just need to see if another kid is up to the task."

Ryleigh smiled. "I think I know who may be fit for this."

"Who?"

"Oh, you know him very well."


	33. Jordan Johnson

_Sorry for the long time without an update. This summer has been (and will be) plagued with family vacations. Once again, I apologize for not updating, but unfortunately I have to give in to my family at times :/_

_Here's a small fun fact: This story has as much words as Energy Combat did. The funny thing is that Energy Combat had 65 Chapters while this is only at 33. That shows how long this story is._

_But anyways, on with the story!_

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Chase tossed and turned in his bed trying to get some shut-eye. Finally, after what seemed like a hopeless half-hour, he felt like he was dozing off. All of that stopped short when he heard his ringtone go off on the nightstand next to him. He groaned and picked it up to read the text message.

"_hey whats up?_" the message from Gia read.

Chase scratched his eyes and replied quickly. "_nothing...i just wanted to get some shut eye..._"

"_well do you mind coming over to my room? i wanna talk to you :(_"

Chase remembered what Jake told him about Gia's crush and shook his head. "_can't, my parents wouldnt let me sneak out this late at nite even if it was 4 my life_"

"_oh boo hoo :( anyways stay cute! :D_" she replied.

Chase chuckled and shook his head. He looked for Jake Holling on his contacts list and quickly called him up.

"Whoa...you're up late..." Jake groaned on the other end of the line.

"Yeah, I also got a rude awakening on my phone..." Chase replied.

"What happened?"

"Gia..." Chase stated. "She randomly asked me to come over to the hotel and visit her in her room."

"What!?" Jake exclaimed. "But it's...3 A.M.!"

"Yeah, I know. Also, she told me to 'stay cute'."

"Dude, you seriously have to take this chance."

"Why? I already told you, my heart goes out to Alli." Chase reminded.

"Yeah, but Gia may be the most gorgeous girl on the planet."

"Yeah, she is pretty damn good looking, but to me Alli is a thousand times more beautiful."

"Oh, come on!" Jake groaned. "_Any _guy would take advantage of this opportunity."

"Yeah, but I'm not any guy..."

"Seriously, you don't even know if Alli likes you back. I say take this opportunity and call it quits if you two don't end up working out. Besides, it'd piss me off to see someone let Gia go."

Chase didn't know what to think of any of this. He was still trying to get together with Alli, but he had no idea whether or not they had mutual feelings. He wasn't totally interested in Gia, but she wasn't a bad girl. She had occasional flares, but was nice apart from that.

"Why aren't you jealous of this?" Chase asked.

"Bro, I _am_ jealous. I'd rather be jealous of you than mad at you, though."

Chase was silent. "I'll think about it." he finally said. "Thanks for the talk, good night." Chase hung up.

He sighed and tried to close his eyes. There were a lot of decisions he had to make. Gia wasn't a bad girl, but Alli was where his heart was. Whether or not she liked him was still a subjective matter, and he couldn't be sure. At least with Gia, she was a close call and was confirmed to be interested.

* * *

**==Underground Temple, Saudi Arabia==**

Exo roared at his servants. "What do you mean the humans have unlocked the sixth Color Capsule!?"

His servant stepped back. "The Power Rangers have done it again..." he whimpered.

Exo roared again. "You bumbling idiots! Send me Otar the Mad, I will teach these humans a lesson!"

The servant nodded and left. He soon came back in with Otar. "Here is your Dragon Priest, my lord." he nodded before exiting.

Otar stepped up to Exo. "What would you like of me?" he asked.

Exo got off his throne and looked at his Dragon Priest. "I want you to go to the damn city where these Power Rangers spawn from. I want you to kill every single one of them. Wipe them off this planet." he demanded.

"Is there any specific way you would like this to be done?" Otar asked.

Exo thought for a minute. "Keep watch on the Rangers and how they interact with each other. Find the strongest one and find the most useful Ranger to them. Kidnap one of them as bait and let the rest fall into place."

Otar nodded. "Your wish is my command, lord."

"Do your job. Also, do not fail me. If you do, I will make sure you suffer the same fate as those before you."

Otar nodded again. "You can consider this job done."

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

School the next day felt awkward for Chase. He still hadn't decided whether to go with Gia or or place his bets on Alli. Like always, he headed straight to Kenzie's locker for some advice.

He tapped on her shoulder as she placed some books away. "Hey, I need some help." he admitted, scratching his hair.

Kenzie turned around and raised her eyebrows. "I see that look in your eyes. It's love, isn't it?" she asked.

Chase nodded slowly. "Don't judge me, I'm just having some girl trouble."

"Like what?"

Chase looked around carefully and then moved in closer to Kenzie. "Okay, well, this isn't easy for me to say..." he whispered. "...but I have a little something for...Alli Matthews..." he admitted.

Kenzie smirked. "Oh, really?" she asked sarcastically. "I never saw that coming..."

"But the problem is that your Yellow Ranger counterpart Gia Moran is also kinda into me. I wouldn't mind going on a few dates with her because I can't be certain that Alli likes me. What should I do?"

Kenzie placed her hand on her chin. "Well, as you know, I was never really strong in relationships. However, I _am _a girl and know what girls think. Is Gia very upfront about her small crush on you?" she asked.

Chase nodded. "Yeah, she made it kinda apparent."

"Then she called dibs on you. You'd be an asshole to take Alli after knowing of Gia's feelings. While I think you and Alli would look adorable together, I'm going to have to tell you to go with Gia."

Chase sighed. "Well, it's not my favorite decision, but I'll trust your judgement. After all, you _are _my best friend for a reason."

Kenzie pulled him in for a light hug. "And don't screw this relationship up. The last thing we need is for two of our Rangers to be awkward with each other."

* * *

**==Smalltown, California, United States==**

Shane Johnson was trying to get a good nap on his day off when, all of a sudden, there was loud knocking on his door. He got up, groaned, and looked out the window. He was unsettled when he saw a police car parked outside.

"What the hell? I'm not even about that life!" he mumbled to himself as he opened the door.

"Shane Johnson, you're under arrest." the officer stated.

Shane breathed a sigh of relief when he saw who the officer was. "Michael Carter, you asshole, don't ever scare me like that again." he said.

Mike chuckled. "You're under arrest for not answering your damn phone. Raylan's been calling you for a while. After you didn't pick up, he tried having Ryleigh call you. Eventually, he had to call me to go to your doorstep."

"He did?" Shane asked, looking at his phone. "Oh yeah, he did...well, he should have called on my home phone! That would have woken me up!"

"He _did_ call on your home phone..." Mike laughed.

"Oh..."

"Wanna know what he told me?"

Shane nodded. "Yeah, come on in." he said, leading Mike into his living room. "So, tell me."

Mike clasped his hands. "Your cousin Jordan...the one in Harwood...is going to be a Power Ranger."

Shane was silent for a minute. "Dude, that's friggin' awesome! I've gotta show him all the ropes n' shit!"

"Yeah, but he's all the way in North Carolina."

Shane scratched his head. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that. So, why are you telling me this?" he asked.

"Because he wants you over there for a little bit." Mike answered.

Shane looked around the house. "I just can't leave Susanna like that." he replied.

Susanna was Shane's wife. They worked together at Shane's first job as a business consultant and eventually fell in love. After dating for a few years, they decided to tie the knot and live together.

"By the way, how is she doing?" Mike asked. "I haven't seen her in a while."

"She's doing fine. She's over at work now, which leaves me here to chill on my day off."

Mike nodded. "Well, I'm _not _on my day off, so I guess I should be taking my leave. I'll see you soon, bro." he said, getting up and walking to the door.

"See ya!" Shane shouted, lying back on his couch. "Wait a minute, how about you take some vacation time off and come with me?" he suggested. "We could even get Sydney and Tyler and have a nice reunion!"

Mike thought for a minute. "Well, Sydney _is _done with filming her movie, Tyler has nothing better to do, I'm the police chief who makes the rules, and you're the one rolling in money. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea!" he agreed.

"Sweet! Let's book some tickets for North Carolina!"

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Raylan, Ryleigh, and Johnny sat with Jordan at the King household as he digested the fact that his life would change forever. He was notified by Ryleigh that morning before school started and before many people came into school to help with the whole secret identity thing. Ryleigh had told him to come over to her place after school so she could introduce him to the other important and experienced Rangers. She thought it would be a good way for him to see that there were people he could look to in need of help.

Jordan was Shane's cousin who Ryleigh was immediately able to recognize. She picked him for the job because his body build and attitude was similar to Shane's. Shane was also a powerful Ranger who was capable of taking charge. Ryleigh saw those traits stand out in Jordan. While he was timid at first, he was hardworking and determined.

Jordan gulped. "So I'm supposed to be kicking monster ass as the Gold Ranger?" he asked quietly.

Ryleigh nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. Just don't die."

"And you're saying Shane was a Power Ranger, too?"

Raylan nodded. "Shane was the Red Ranger. He was also a kickass Ranger. I know you'll take after him." he smiled.

Jordan grinned awkwardly. "Well, this came at me fast."

Johnny looked at Ryleigh and then back at Jordan. "Trust me, being a Ranger is how I met some really important people in my life." he said, looking at Ryleigh again.

Ryleigh softly held her husband's hand. "Yeah, it also changed him a lot. He wasn't exactly a good person before he started saving the world." she smiled.

Jordan raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I actually listen to your band. The lyrics definitely talk about how much you've grown and changed."

In an instant, their four morphers warmed up.

Raylan pressed it down and spoke into the mic. "What are we dealing with here?" he asked.

"_Strange energy signal detected in Palisade. Signal identified as a Dragon Priest._" Gadget-X's voice alerted.

Raylan stood up and ran to the door. "Shit, I have to get out of here. You three patrol the city and see if there are any outbursts. Prevent any wyrm uprisings. Also, if you see the Dragon Priest, call me right away. I'll be there in a heartbeat." he stated before rushing out the door.

The three of them nodded and followed Raylan out of the hosue.


	34. Otar the Mad

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Chase stood outside Gia's door with a small bouqet of daisies. He didn't know what to expect as Gia texted him to meet her there before seven in the evening. After sighing, he finally knocked on the door.

Emma answered the door. "Oh, it's you..." she groaned. "Gia's inside. She's been waiting for you."

Chase nodded. "Right..." he replied awkwardly. He walked in and saw Gia on her phone. "Gia?" he called out.

Gia looked up, startled. "Oh, hey! You came!" she looked over to the clock. "And you're on time!" she exclaimed.

Chase gulped as he looked at Gia. Jake wasn't lying about her looks, but she was still nothing compared to Alli. In fact, the only thing Chase could think about was Alli, even while he was looking at Gia.

"Yeah, well..."

"Are those flowers for me?" Gia asked as she got up. "These are beautiful!"

"Yeah, I just..."

"Oh, I'll put them in this new vase I conveniently bought!" she chirped, gesturing to a nice glass vase on the nightstand.

"Where did you...?" Chase cut off his question to smile at the girl's craziness. "Well, the real reason I was here..."

"Yes, I'll go on a date with you!" she instantly answered. "Oh, this'll be so fun, you cutey!"

Chase smirked. Maybe this wasn't going to be as bad as he expected. All traces of his love for Alli were cleansed from him and Gia became his new interest. He smiled as he pulled her in for a light hug. He felt it was better to place his bets on a girl whose feelings he knew rather than one who only dropped hints.

"Wanna go watch a movie?" he suggested.

"I haven't seen the new Superman."

"Neither have I. Let's go!"

* * *

Alli's iPhone started to vibrate as she tried to finish a homework assignment. She groaned, put her pen down, and picked up her phone. She raised an eyebrow as she saw the text message was from Gia. Her and Gia rarely texted each other, so it had to be something big.

"_hey guess what?_" Gia's message read.

"_idk what?_" Alli replied.

"_chase asked me out :3_" Gia replied.

Alli didn't reply. She couldn't even bring herself to reply. She felt like Gia put on a large metal glove and slapped her right across the face. While she understood that Gia didn't know about her feelings, she still felt betrayed. She thought at least Chase would have liked her back, but evidently he did not.

"_...what?_" Alli finally brought herself to reply.

"_yeah he came to my room with flowers!_"

Alli closed her eyes and tried not to cry. She wanted to throw her phone against the wall as hard as she could. This was hard for her to digest, but she had to. Gia had told Alli of her intent while Alli had kept her feelings repressed. It was only fair that Gia got her pick on him first.

"_oh...and what else?_" Alli asked. She wanted to know all the details. She wanted to know what Gia had that she didn't.

"_well we're about to watch man of steel_"

"_I_ should be the one watching Man of Steel with him." Alli mumbled to herself. "Wow, I can't believe she would do this to me. I can't believe _he _would do this to me." she snickered.

"_why are you texting me if youre on a date with him_" Alli replied coldly. She wanted Gia to know that she was irritated.

"_uhh..._"

"_thats right...now let me do my homework_" Alli texted back. She was done texting Gia. Her phone vibrated with a reply, but she didn't want to check and see what Gia had to say. She picked up her pen and continued her homework assignment.

* * *

Jordan, Ryleigh, Johnny, and Raylan had been walking around the city for hours. The sun started to go down and all hope at finding the Dragon Priest seemed to dim away. As they entered the ruins of an abandoned factory, Jordan stopped and looked at the three adults.

"Honestly, why don't we just call this search quits?" Jordan complained. "He hasn't shown up anywhere."

"Damn, you're _really _like Shane." Raylan chuckled. "We can't give up, we're Rangers."

"But aren't you guys tired?" Jordan asked.

"Dude, I'm only twenty-seven. I still have lots of energy." Raylan replied. "Shit, I have to call Emma."

"Why?" Johnny asked.

"She wants to know what I'm doing." Raylan said. He pulled out his phone and dialed her number. "Hey, babe! Yeah, I'm about to go on a dangerous mission, but I have Ryleigh, Johnny, and Shane's cousin to help out...Yeah, Shane's cousin is a Power Ranger...What do you mean I shouldn't do this?...Yeah, that's what I thought...Alright, I'll talk to you later...Bye!...love you..." he hung up.

Just then, a lightning bolt crashed on the ground in the middle of them. Otar the Mad magically appeared in between them in a cloud of smoke, causing the four of them to start coughing.

"Take cover!" Raylan ordered. "It's morphin' time! Dragon!"

"Rhino!"

"Bull!"

Jordan looked around aimlessly. "Uhh...it's morphin' time! Gold!" he shouted along with them

**==Sequence==**

Jordan finds himself within a cube of gold. He scans the area until gold shards start flying around him. The shards start to solidify around him and form the several pieces of his armour. Finally, they settle down around him and lock onto his body, forming his Ranger suit. He shouts "Gold Osiris Ranger!"

**==Sequence Ends==**

"Wow, this feels incredible!" Jordan exclaimed, getting a feel for his armour.

By the time he morphed, the other Rangers were already trying to fight off the Dragon Priest. Otar had summoned several lesser wyrms to distract the Rangers, but they were no real threat. Otar was the real menace.

"You think you can destroy Otar the Mad!" Otar hissed at Raylan. "Dovahkiin, I'm too much for you!"

"No you're not!" Raylan yelled back. "Yol toor shul!" he roared a fireball at Otar.

Otar staggered back from the impact and growled. He pulled his staff out and zapped lightning bolts at the Rangers. He zapped the first one at Johnny, instantly unmorphing him.

"Shit! That hurt!" Johnny complained, taking refuge behind a rock.

Otar laughed and lookeda at the three remaining Rangers. He pulled his staff up again and fired the second lightning bolt at Ryleigh. Like Johnny, she was thrown back and unmorphed.

"Whoa, that didn't feel good at all." she groaned, hiding behind the same rock as her husband.

"Two down, two to go!" Otar exclaimed. "This is too easy!"

Raylan looked to Jordan. "Looks like it's just the two of us. You focus on the lesser wyrms, I'll take this bastard out." he commanded.

Jordan nodded and rushed into the middle of the wyrms. It was obvious he didn't know what he was doing when he was tackled to the ground. Raylan groaned and tried to escape Otar to help him.

Otar stuck his staff in front of Raylan. "Going somewhere, Dovahkiin?" he asked.

Raylan saw as a wall of lightning circled around him. "What do you want from me?" he asked desperately.

Otar smiled grimly and held up a window of light. Through that window Raylan could see his wife cradling Casey.

"Please, don't..." Raylan pleaded. "You can take anything away, just not them."

Jordan finished dealing with the wyrms and stopped at the barrier of lightning. He pulled out his blaster and started firing it at wall, but his small rounds were no match for the arcane lighning.

Otar looked back at Raylan. "I have made up my mind." he laughed. "Feim zii!" he shouted, teleporting away.

Raylan unmorphed and fell on his knees. He held his hands close to his eyes to catch any tears that were about to fall. He was given one task to protect his family and he had already failed at that.

* * *

Kenzie met up with Nick and Jake Fernandez at the Java House for a small nightly hangout and coffee. She organized the small meeting with just the three of them because she had a lot to ask and say. She saw them sitting at the bar and took a seat next to them.

"Hey, what's up?" she greeted them.

"Nothing much, what about you?" Nick replied.

"Well, there's a lot on my chest at the moment."

Jake literally looked at her chest and smirked. "Oh hell yeah there-" he was cut off by a smack on the face.

"Oh, hush up you perv." Kenzie replied. "Anyways, I think I may have made a mistake..."

"What kind of mistake?" Nick asked.

Kenzie sighed before she explained. "Before I say what I have to say, I have to ask that you promise you won't tell Chase I told you this."

Nick nodded. "I promise." he said, looking to Jake.

"Huh? Oh yeah...uhh...I promise, too."

Kenzie sighed again. "Okay, so it's no surprise that Chase likes Alli and..."

Jake spat some coffee out. "Whoa! Hold up...what?"

Kenzie nodded. "Yeah, you heard me right, but that's not the point. Alli likes Chase back and..."

Jake spat some more coffee out. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Would you shut up and let her finish?" Nick cut in.

Jake nodded slowly. "Oh yeah..."

"Thank you." Kenzie smiled at Nick. "Anyways, Chase and Alli like each other, but neither of them know that. However, Gia called dibs on Chase, and I told Chase to stick with Gia because I couldn't think of anything else. I know Alli is sensitive about her feelings, so I just couldn't bring myself to tell him. As a result of my mistake, Chase and Gia are now dating."

Nick raised an eyebrow. "Wow, it sounds like you have an actual problem on your hands."

"Yeah, and I need both of your help to fix it."

"How do you plan on this." Jake asked.

"I have no idea." Kenzie answered.

Nick smiled. "You don't, but I do."

* * *

Emma Westbrook finally got Casey and Alissa to sleep before she got on her own bed. Ryleigh had dropped Alissa off so that she and Johnny could go help Raylan and Jordan. Raylan still had not come home and there was no news of an attack, but she trusted that Ryleigh and Johnny were backing him up. She had met Jordan once back in Smalltown and he had also seemed able-bodied, easing her tensions.

While she knew at Raylan may have been the best fighter on the planet, she still felt uneasy letting him take these serious missions with a daughter at home. The fact that there was a second little girl who could also lose her parents even worsened her feelings.

She finally closed her eyes and tried to get some sleep. It seemed that with her husband still running around town, she wouldn't be getting any. She was rudely awakened by knocking on the front door. Expecting the four of them, she picked Casey and Alissa up and walked downstairs to open it. She screamed in horror as a terrifying beast roared and a blinding flash swept her and the two kids off their feet.

Raylan, Johnny, Ryleigh, and Jordan arrived too late. The front door was opened and Alissa lay on the ground, crying. Ryleigh quickly picked her daughter up and looked around. Raylan fell on his knees and slammed the ground with his fists.

"Fuck!" he shouted. "No!"

Johnny kneeled by him and placed his arm on Raylan's shoulder. "I've never seen you in such a mess."

"I'll kill Otar. I have a special spell which should help with this bullshit." Raylan said as he stood up. "Ryleigh and Jordan, go home and get some sleep. Johnny and I will take care of this."

Johnny nodded. "Let's go, there's no time to waste."


	35. Chase's Love

**==Smalltown, California, United States==**

Shane, Mike, Sydney, and Tyler sat in the airport waiting for their direct flight to Palisade. Sydney heavily disguised herself so nobody would be able to recognize her. Since she was a fairly popular movie starlet, the paparazzi would be all over her.

Shane finally convinced the others to go to Palisade with him and visit all of the other Rangers. The last time the eight of them got together was when Casey and Alissa were born roughly a year ago. Since they were both born so close to each other, they could stay for both childbirths.

"Why are we here so early?" Sydney asked. "Our flight isn't for another hour."

"Blame Shane for that. He wanted to get here early." Mike groaned.

"Hey, better to be early than miss the flight completely." Shane defended. "And besides, I don't hear Tyler complaining."

"Actually, I just didn't want to say anything, but this wait is excrutiatingly painful." Tyler chuckled.

Shane cursed under his breath, crossed his arms, and slumped in his seat. "Everybody's a critic..." he mumbled.

"Well, Shane _is _a married man. This attitude is good in the long run." Mike added in.

"Let's not forget that you're also married with two kids." Shane replied. "And yes, Susanna likes when I take charge."

"I hope he doesn't mean under the covers..." Mike whispered to Tyler. "Let's not forget how small his di-"

"Hey, I can hear you!" Shane exclaimed. "You twenty-six year old men are acting like children!"

Sydney sniggered. "Actually, children don't make fun of another man's abnormally small pen-"

"Okay! We get it!"

"You know it's true. You and I dated and we couldn't even 'do it' because of your small pen-"

"OKAY!"

Mike and Tyler chuckled to themselves. "We haven't even left and something already tells me that this will be the greatest vacation ever." Tyler said.

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Chase and Gia walked out of the movie theatre, hand-in-hand. They just finished watching Man of Steel and had an excellent first date together. Chase didn't even think of Alli at all the entire time.

"I had fun. It was definitely something I never expected." Chase said.

"I had fun, too. We should do this again."

"You know...I'm glad I was here with you."

"What do you mean?" Gia asked. "Who else would you be here with?"

"It's not that, it's just..." Chase couldn't find the right words to put together. "For the longest time, I imagined doing this with someone else, but I'm just glad it was you instead."

Gia smiled lightly and placed her head on Chase's shoulder. "This is a perfect day. I couldn't have asked for a better night with a better guy."

"I couldn't have asked for a better night with a better girl." Chase agreed.

Gia leaned in and kissed him on his cheek. "Wanna come over to my room? I think Emma is out for dinner..."

"Umm..." Chase felt awkward.

"Oh, come on. I'll make sure we're out before she comes back."

"But..."

"She's gone for a while." Gia kissed him on the cheek again. "Nobody needs to know..."

"This wasn't exactly what I had in mind..."

"Oh, come on! Please?"

* * *

Nick, Kenzie, and Jake were outside Alli's house. The three of them were dressed in all black and wore ski masks. Jake had a rope with superglue on one end on him, Nick had a large brown bag on him, and Kenzie had pepper spray on her. Nick had told them his idea to try to split Chase and Gia up and get him together with Alli. While it wasn't exactly the right thing to do, it _also _was the right thing to do.

"This plan will get us killed!" Kenzie growled. "Did you know her dad works for the FBI?"

"Calm down, he's only a technical specialist." Nick reassured. "Besides, you're the one that wanted to help Chase out."

"If we get in trouble, then I have no idea who you two are." Jake complained.

"Fine by me." Nick sighed. "Alright, let's go. Jake, you're alpha. Kenzie, you're beta. I'll be omega."

The three of them made their way under Alli's window. They could see her silhouette sitting on her desk and writing something. Jake accurately threw the rope onto the outside of the window, causing the superglue to latch on. Following Nick's command, they carefully climbed up to avoid detection. When Nick reached the window, he knocked on it.

"What the hell was that?" Alli asked herself as she got up to open the window.

"Surprise!" Nick exclaimed, throwing the bag over her. "Alpha, toss me the rope!" he said in a scruffy voice, trying to disguise himself.

"I'm on it, omega." Jake responded, tying the rope around the outside of the bag.

They nodded and jumped out of the window, carefully holding onto Alli. They could feel her kicking and squirming in the bag, but it was all part of their plan. They quickly tossed her in the trunk of Jake's car.

"All this trouble for a simple high school relationship?" Jake asked.

"These two seem like they could take a relationship to much higher standards. Just trust me on this." Kenzie assured.

Nick nodded. "I agree with you."

They quickly jumped into the car and drove off.

* * *

Raylan and Johnny made their way back to the factory where they found Otar the first time. They carefully treaded their path to avoid detection as the Dragon Priest was still around.

"Alright, just keep behind me." Raylan whispered to Johnny.

"I've been doing that. Remember, I have no experience with this." Johnny whispered back.

Suddenly, there was an explosion of lightning on the ground and Otar the Mad appeared in front of them. He floated above them before firing several lightning bolts at them.

"You won't get us!" Raylan taunted. "It's morphin' time! Dragon!"

"Bull!"

They morphed and faced the Dragon Priest. "Otar, where are they?" Raylan asked.

Otar laughed menacingly. "I have them in a place where you'll never be able to save them."

Raylan growled. "Let them go, or I'll kill the shit out of you!"

Otar laughed again. "You see, I'm not about to make the same mistake that the Dragon Priests that died at your hands did. I have your wife and child trapped in an orb of lightning that will enclose within itself if I am killed by you. Basically, you cannot harm me if you want your loved ones to live."

"You cruel bastard." Raylan shook his head. He looked at the blue orb and saw miniature versions of Emma and Casey in there. "What have you done to them?"

Otar smirked. "Every time I attack you, I attack them as well." he taunted. "Watch and learn."

Otar fired a beam of lightning at the ground. Raylan could see that Emma and Casey took a small amount of damage with it. He couldn't stand to see his wife and child in this situation and fell onto his knees. The Dragon Priest laughed and flew higher in the air.

Johnny knelt by him and placed his arm on his friend. "Dude, you can do this. I believe in you."

Raylan turned to Johnny. "He said _I_ can't be the one to kill him, but he never said anything about _you_."

"Me? You can't be serious..."

Raylan got up. "You fight him off, I'll use that spell I was talking about to find my girls. Please, you now how much I trust you."

Johnny nodded. "I got ya, bro."

Raylan smiled and ran into the factory. He planned on using the Aura Whisper shout to detect their life signs. Everything rested on whether or not he could find them in time and whether or not Johnny could kill Otar.

"Laas yah nir!" Raylan shouted, seeing a green glow in the distance. "Emma and Casey..." he muttered, running to what he saw.

Meanwhile, Johnny had met his match with Otar. The Dragon Priest was considerably weaker than the previous three that Raylan had faced, but it was still hard for Johnny. For a person not gifted with the powers of the Dovahkiin, he was fighting well. He used his blaster to deflect the lightning back to the staff, preventing Emma and Casey from getting hurt.

"You're weak." Johnny taunted. "I eat things like you for breakfast."

"Fo krah diin!" Otar roared.

Johnny staggered back at the rush of cold air. "That all you got? You're nothing compared to J!"

Otar shot another lightning bolt at Johnny which he deflected with a round of his blaster. Due to Johnny's high level of self-defense, Otar's attacks were useless. Not only were they ineffective against the Green Ranger, they also failed to affect Emma and Casey.

In frustration, Otar swung the staff at Johnny. The Green Ranger quickly grabbed the orb and destroyed it, sending a flash of blue light around the area.

* * *

Chase didn't know what happened. He was only in the apartment room for an hour when he was suddenly woken up by a terrified Emma Goodall who screamed as she saw him shirtless.

"That's...my bed..." she whimpered. "And you guys just did the dirty...oh, eww..."

Gia also got up abruptly and threw the covers over her chest. "Shit, I completely lost track of time!" she exclaimed.

Chase looked around nervously. He remembered going back to the room with Gia and then starting to kiss her, but everything afterwards was such a blur. Not to mention that Gia was panting. He started to get a headache.

"What happened?" he groaned, scratching his head.

"That was awesome!" Gia stated.

"I feel like puking..." Emma cried. "I'll see if I can get new bed sheets..."

When Emma fled downstairs, Chase turned to Gia. "What the hell did we do? Why aren't we wearing clothes?"

Gia smirked. "Chase, Chase, Chase...you're so cute when you're forgetful." she giggled.

Chase widened his eyes. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no...we did not just..."

Gia smiled and nodded. "We did, and you were _incredible_."

Chase felt dizzy. "But we couldn't have..."

"But we did. It was exhiliarating. I hope you had just as much fun as I did."

"I think I'm going to be sick..." Chase whimpered.

"That's impossible, we used a con-"

"Don't you dare say anything sexual!" Chase exclaimed. "I have to go home..." he said as he threw his clothes on and left the room.

Gia shrugged and lay back down.

Chase stumbled out of the hotel and started to panic. He had been pure his whole life and just let one small thing lead to another. Emma also didn't seem to be the type of person who could keep a secret, which would possibly hurt his friendship with Jake.

Coincidentally, Alli started to reappear in his thoughts.

Chase's phone stated to vibrate. "Hello?" he answered.

"Chase, it's me, Kenzie. Alli has been kidnapped! Help!"

* * *

Chase didn't hesitate to run to where Kenzie directed him. He eventually found himself by an abandoned warehouse. He rushed in and saw three masked burglars holding Alli in binds.

"Let her go!" Chase demanded, knocking one to the ground.

The other two cowered away, leaving Chase to untie Alli.

"I'm so sorry I left you hanging." he told her. "I love you, I always have."

Alli cried and clung onto his shoulders. "I love you, too." she sniffled, kissing him softly on the lips.

"I was so worried...wait a minute." Chase realized. "How did Kenzie know where you were?" he asked.

Alli grew wide-eyed and looked at her kidnappers. Chase walked over to the one he threw to the ground and unmasked him, finding Nick.

"What the hell?" Chase asked. The other two clapped and took their masks off, revealing to be Kenzie and Jake.

"Huh?" Alli said quietly.

"This was all a plan to get you guys together." Kenzie smirked. "And it worked." Kenzie didn't have time to explain as she heard police sirens reach the area.

"Shit, my dad must have called up the cops." Alli said. "You four morph and cover for me. I expect an explanation from you guys tomorrow."

The four of them morphed when the cops entered the building.

"Don't worry, officers, the Power Rangers have this under control." Alli assured them. "Nothing to worry about here." she dismissed the officers.

"Whatever, Miss Matthews." the chief officer said, leading his subordinates out of the warehouse.

Chase unmorphed and kissed Alli on the lips. "You're so beautiful..." he complimented.

Alli smirked and placed her mouth by Chase's ear. "I smell Gia's perfume all over you...and you're exhausted." she whispered to him

"Uhh..."

Alli kissed him again. "I honestly don't care what you did because it's just you and me now, cutie." she smiled.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."


	36. Healing

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Raylan ran out of the warehouse with an unconscious Emma over one shoulder and a crying Casey in his other arm. He ran over to Johnny and the dead Dragon Priest.

"Bro, you're the best. Thanks for everything." Raylan smiled. "I couldn't have done it without you."

Johnny looked at Emma. "We have to get her to a hospital ASAP."

Raylan nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

"By the way, I heard you shouting something in the distance. What was that?"

Raylan smirked. "Don't worry about it."

"Yeah, okay." Johnny chuckled.

"Hold on a minute." Raylan said. He walked over to Otar and carefully took his mask off. "I need a souvenier from this bastard."

"Shouldn't we go?"

"Oh yeah, let's get to the nearest hospital."

* * *

The wait in the emergency room was excrutiating. They had been in there all the way through the next morning awaiting news on Emma. Ryleigh brought Alissa in to sit with Raylan, Johnny, and Casey. The doctors wouldn't let any visitors in the room as Emma was still in critical condition. Raylan quietly sobbed to himself.

"Casey, I failed you." he told his daughter. "I had one job..."

"You didn't fail anyone." Johnny reassured him. "You did the right thing. Now just let nature take its course."

"What do you mean?"

"If Emma's not strong enough to pull through, then she won't. If she is, then she will. Right now, there's nothing we can do about her situation."

Raylan nodded. "You're right..." he replied softly. "I just can't stand to have this girl raised motherless."

"This is how Emma fells when you go on missions." Ryleigh added in. "She literally tells me the same exact thing you just said."

Raylan sniffled. "I know, but somebody has to protect our family..." Just as he said that, the doctor exited Emma's room. Raylan got up and rushed to him. "Any word on my wife? Is she okay?"

The doctor nodded. "Your wife will be fine. She's sleeping right now. Her bodily functions have returned to a stable level. You can go in and see her if you would like."

Raylan sighed with relief. "Thank you so much, doctor." he said, picking up Casey and rushing into the room.

He slowly walked over to his sleeping wife and took her hand in his own. He bent over and kissed her on the forehead.

"You gave me the scare of my life." he whispered. "I love you, don't _ever _do that to me."

Emma's eyes slowly opened. "Raylan? Is that you?" she asked.

Raylan nodded. "Yeah, it's me."

"How's Casey?"

Raylan held her in front of Emma. "She's doing fine. She cried a bit, but she's happy now that her ma-ma is doing fine."

"Ma-ma!" Casey babbled.

Emma smiled and rubbed her daughter's arm. "I love you, Raylan. Thanks for saving me."

"You can thank Johnny for that. I was just there to pick you up."

"Hey, doesn't this seem familiar?"

"What do you mean?"

"Remember the day you got knocked out at lacrosse practice all those years back in high school? That was the day we started..."

Raylan smiled and kissed his wife softly on the lips. "How could I forget?"

* * *

The next day in school was awkward for Chase. He didn't formally break-up with Gia, but he did formally get together with Alli. He wasn't sure whose hand to hold or who to go to first. Thankfully, the other Rangers saved him last night by telling him to meet up with them in the library right when he got into school. He found Alli, Nick, Kenzie, Gia, and Jake F. sitting at a table.

"What's up, guys?" he said, taking the sixth empty seat.

"So, what's the explanation?" Alli asked. She told them all to meet up so Nick to tell them what his plan was. "You scared the hell out of me and now I want to hear why."

"Why is Gia here?" Chase asked. "What part did she have in any of this?" Gia and Kenzie looked at each other and smiled.

"Well, I used Gia to see whether or not Alli liked you back." Kenzie began. "I already knew you liked Alli - it's not hard for a best friend to know that - so I asked Gia to play my devil's advocate."

"You used me for jealousy!?" Alli exclaimed. "What the actual fuck!?"

Chase was confused. "But then why did we...you know...last night?" Chase asked Gia.

"You led into that. I never expected you to actually start liking me back." Gia answered. "And besides, we all achieved our goals."

"So you never liked me?" Chase asked.

"Well, I can't say that I never liked you, but I can say that I never liked you to the extent that Alli did."

Nick appeared confused, as well. "Wait, so why did you tell us you made a mistake?" he asked Kenzie. "If Gia was all a part of the plan..."

"I didn't know how much to let you guys in on." Kenzie answered. "I thought I should have just played this innocently."

"Basically, we wanted to see how pissed Alli would get." Gia said. "That's the only reason I kept on telling her how much I loved Chase."

Alli chuckled a bit. "I'm actually not mad at this." she smiled.

Chase smiled as well and held Alli's hand under the table. "Neither am I, but why did you guys kidnap her last night?" he asked.

"We wanted to forcefully bring you two together." Jake answered. "A rescue and restore mission was the best way to do that."

"Wow, this was such a devious plan. I like it." Alli smirked. She kissed Chase on the cheek. "At least it all worked out in the end."

The bell rang and the six of them got up to go to class. Eventually, the only two people left in the library were Chase and Gia.

"So is Emma going to tell the whole world that we...you know...did it?" he asked her.

Gia chuckled and shook her head. "I drilled it into her head that those details aren't supposed to be shared."

"Thanks, Gia, for everything. All of you played with my emotions, but you all also did it in the right way." Chase smiled.

Gia smiled back. "It was all my pleasure."

"So...uhh...you wouldn't be mad if I...you know...go with Alli?"

"Why would I be?"

"Sweet!" Chase exclaimed as he ran to catch up with his new girlfriend.

* * *

Emma Goodall couldn't bring herself to say the words to Troy. She wanted him to ask her out for so long, but he never came around to it. Eventually, she decided it would be fit if she took the action. She had learned that if she wanted things to go her way, she would have to be the one doing the work.

She sighed as she walked over to the empty seat next to his desk. He was only three desks away, but it felt like a thousand miles. Every step she took brought her to a new continent, pulling her farther apart from him.

Before she could reach it, Jordan took the seat. She was too slow and let Troy's friend get in the way of everything. She growled and marched to the back of the classroom to sit in the only other empty seat.

"This is so stupid..." she mumbled to herself.

Meanwhile, Troy noticed something weird about Jordan. "Where did you get that nice gold watch?" he asked him. "It looks really...familiar..."

Jordan's eyes widened. "I...uhh...I...got it from the store yesterday!" he answered in a rush.

"And why were you late to your room last night? There _was _news of a small monster attack..."

"What are you trying to find out?" Jordan asked. "I have no information."

"I know what that watch is." Troy whispered. "You're a Power Ranger. Don't try to cover it up, I'm not stupid."

"How did you know?"

"Because I'm also a Ranger."

"Oh, this is awkward as hell." Jordan mumbled.

Troy chuckled. "Dude, at least we don't need to come up with excuses for anything anymore."

Jordan shrugged. "Yeah, well, I guess..."

In the back of the classroom, Emma was silently cursing under her breath. It wasn't fair that she never got what she wanted. People always beat her to things, and she didn't like it. She would get Troy whether he liked it or not.

* * *

Shane, Mike, and Tyler all had to share a hotel room. Sydney got a whole room to herself because she was the only girl. Unfortunately, when she registered for a hotel room, the front desk lady instantly recognized her and pointed her out to every guest in the lobby. As a result, Sydney quickly grabbed her keys and ran straight to her room.

"I call the first bed!" Tyler announced.

"And I call the second one!" Mike added in.

"Really? Do I _really _have to sleep on the couch?" Shane asked. Mike and Tyler nodded. "You guys have got to be kidding me..."

"So, when do we get to meet up with Raylan?" Tyler asked.

"I was supposed to stay at his house, but I told him that I brought 'special guests' and that I wanted to stay in a hotel room. He thought I meant that I brought Susanna and wanted a room to myself. When I called him today, he said that Emma wasn't feeling well and he would call back when she felt better."

"Okay, so what do we do until then?" Mike asked.

"We could grab something to eat." Tyler suggested. "I came here last month and there was a new Italian restaurant that opened up a few blocks away."

Shane rubbed his stomach. "Oh, I am so down for some lasagna."

"Sweet, let's get Sydney."

* * *

Raylan sat by Emma, who was resting in bed. He just put Casey in the crib to let her catch up on some sleep. Words wouldn't describe the gratitude he felt for having her back safe and sound after all the Dragon Priest crap that happened the night before.

"I'm so glad you're okay." he said softly, holding her hand.

"Didn't you say that Shane wanted to come over?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think he brought his wife with him."

Emma chuckled. "That woman is crazy."

"Oh yeah, she once wrote an hour-long song proclaiming her love for him."

"Well, I'm feeling a bit better now, so I would love to have some company over for some dinner."

"I'll cook." Raylan smiled. "I don't want you to get too worked up."

"I don't want you to get too worked up, either."

"Relax, honey, it's only for the four of us."

"We could bring the Kings over. Then we could just go out to eat." Emma suggested.

"That sounds like a great idea! How does Mexican sound?"

* * *

Chase gave Alli a ride home that day. He thought it would be only fair if he gave his girlfriend a ride home instead of making her walk.

"These past few days have been surreal." Chase admitted. "I never thought we would ever start dating."

"Neither did I, but I'm glad we did. You're the only guy who I feel is worth the time." Alli agreed.

Chase kissed his girlfriend on the cheek. "Well, we're here. I guess it's time for you to go home."

Alli smirked. "Not necessarily, I told my parents I would be staying after today. That gives us another few hours of together time."

Chase chuckled. "Java House?"

"Java House, it is!"


	37. It's All A Mess

_Just a small little thing I found about Emma Goodall's and Gia Moran's names. The creators planned on their first and last names to connect._

_Here, look at it this way and break it down: Emma Goodall and Gia Moran_

_Emma G. and Gia M. - Read that a few times. Notice anything weird?_

_Let me make this look even more obvious._

_M-a G. and G-a M._

_Now do you see it?_

_Just thought I'd share that little tidbit with you guys, I found it interesting. Anyways, on with the story!_

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Raylan, Emma, Ryleigh, Johnny, the babies, and even Jordan didn't know what to expect when they walked into the fancy Mexican restaurant for dinner. They decided to go out to dinner with Shane, but didn't know who he brought with him. They expected his wife, Susanna, but were in for a real surprise.

"What are _you guys_ doing here?" Raylan asked, surprised. He pulled them each in for a hug.

"A long awaited reunion, I guess?" Mike replied.

"Oh wow, look how much bigger the girls have gotten!" Sydney exclaimed, pinching each girls' cheeks. "They are so cute!" Casey and Alissa started giggling.

"She's just learning how to talk." Emma answered. "She's my little cutie!"

Casey giggled again as Emma touched her nose. "Ma-ma!" she cooed.

Shane walked over to Jordan. "Dude, I heard the news!" he exclaimed. "You're takin' after your big cuz, aren't you?"

Jordan put a finger to his mouth. "You have to keep this quiet, man. I don't want other people to know."

Shane laughed. "Did I even say anything? Jordan, I'm a professional at this. I've been doing it for ten years."

Jordan scratched his head. "Okay..."

The waiter walked over to the large group. "What will your reservation be?" he asked Raylan.

"Uhh...eight adults and three kids." Raylan answered.

"Hey, I'm not a kid!" Jordan exclaimed.

"Relax, I was talking about Shane."

* * *

The dinner was great. The Rangers had great food and they were able to catch up on everything. Apart from the occasional poking at Shane, everyone was having fun. Even the babies were giggling at nothing.

"I had a fun time! It was great finally seeing you all again." Raylan said. "It's been way too long."

"Yeah, we have to do this more often." Emma added in.

"I couldn't tell any of you were Rangers!" Jordan exclaimed. "You all acted like normal people!"

Johnny chuckled. "Dude, that's who we are. We're just normal people."

"But none of you were tense or anything. You were all calm that this world is under attack."

"That's how we operate." Shane told his cousin. "If we're uneasy, then the whole world will be uneasy. It's not fair for the people who are defenseless if their only line of defense can't do their job."

"So, how do you like all this?" Emma asked Jordan.

"It's really crazy, but I think I can handle it." Jordan replied.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, this is really cool!"

"Being a Power Ranger is probably the most rewarding experience in the world. There are so many friends to make, places to go, an things to do. It's like you always have something calling for you!"

"But the coolest part is that I met Sydney Evans!" Jordan exclaimed loudly, attracting the attention of passer-bys.

"What have you done?" Sydney asked before hiding in the middle of the Rangers.

"Sorry..." Jordan apologized. "I guess I just get a bit too excited."

"Why didn't I think of this before?" Mike asked. "Hey, everyone, Sydney Evans is over here!" he shouted, pointing in her direction.

"Shut up!" she growled, cowering on the ground as hundreds of fans swarmed over to her.

* * *

**==Underground Temple, Saudi Arabia==**

"Sutekh, Krosis, Hevnoraak, and now Otar!? How many more can I lose!" Exo shouted at his servants.

"I'm not really a battle strategist...I'm just simply a servant."

"Shut up!"

The servant cowered. "Yes master-highness-thingy, sir."

"I want to assemble a massive army of wyrms...one capable of destroying every last Power Ranger in existence."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I'm promoting you to the ranks of a general."

The servant smiled. "Really? I can actually go out on the battlefield?" he asked.

"Yes, provided you don't lose to the Rangers."

"What happens if I do?"

"Well, then you die. I'd rather you die than come back here a failure."

"So what is it that you want?"

Exo thought about his plans. If he were to dismantle the Power Rangers, he would require an intrinsic strategy with no loopholes. He had already tried all out attacks with his Dragon Priests, but he valued something more this time.

"How about we not send out any Dragon Priests and instead sent an army of a few thousand wyrms." Exo suggested. "That way, we can still use our top-notch fighters to kill humans _and _have the Power Rangers out of the way."

"Sir, isn't that what we've been telling you?"

"Silence! Now do as you are asked!" Exo commanded.

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Emma and Gia walked down the school hallways together that day. Emma told Gia about her issues with Troy an Gia promised to help her out. Gia pointed Emma to Troy's locker, where they found him by himself holding a yellow bouqet of flowers.

"There he is..." Emma mumble to Gia. "And he's holding flowers."

Troy quickly glanced at the two an then suddenly looked back at his locker. It looked like he was nervous and wasn't sure about what he was doing. He put his flowers in his locker, but quickly took them back out.

"What's he doing?" Emma asked.

"I don't know, but I think I should give you two some private time." Gia smirked. "Good luck, it looks like he's after you!" she ran off.

Emma sighed and waited for Troy to walk over to her with the flowers. When Troy closed his locker, he took a deep breath and saw Emma standing by herself. He appeared nervous and walked over to her.

"Hey, Emma." he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Uhh..." Emma couldn't find the words to say. "How may I help you?"

Troy chuckled and looked at his flowers. "Well, there is one question I have to ask you, but I don't want to sound like a real creep asking it."

Emma's heart fluttered. 'Uhh...umm..." she babbled. "How may I help you?" she asked again.

"You always were the funny one." Troy smiled.

"Really?" Emma smiled.

"But about that question..."

Emma sighed. "Okay, I'm ready, ask away. I promise, you won't seem like a creep. No matter what you do, you won't seem like a creep."

Troy smirked, looked around the hallways, and then looked back to his flowers. "Where'd Gia go?"

* * *

"It's all your fault!" Emma shouted at Gia.

She had reached the pits with Troy. She kept on showering him with affection and attention but he wouldn't even notice her. In fact, he had picked Gia as his love interest over her.

The minute both of them reached the hotel room, Emma threw the news on Gia's face. Since Gia hadn't heard about it in school, she was in for a real surprise when she got back. Once Emma started to dump her anger on Gia, Gia didn't know how to take it.

"Maybe he just needs some space...or he just doesn't like you back." Gia replied. "I mean, you can't force a guy to like you."

"Shut up! Just because you're the hottest girl on the planet doesn't mean I can't have guys to myself! I hate being in your shadow!"

"But..."

"If you can't let me and Troy be together, I'll split you and Chase up!" Emma threatened.

"But me and Chase aren't even a thing. You _know_ he's with Alli."

"Does it look like I care? You obviously didn't care when you snatched Troy up. I can't believe we called each other friends. I hate you!"

"Emma, I didn't 'snatch Troy up'. It's not my fault he has a small crush on me! I'm sorry! What did I do wrong?"

"You did everything wrong!" Emma growled. "

"What did I do that was wrong?" Gia asked.

"Maybe what happened between you and Chase the other night? Yeah, I remember walking in on the two of you..."

"Hey! That wasn't my fault!" Gia defended herself.

What Emma said pressed the memory into Gia's mind. She couldn't stop thinking about that night. While Chase had led into it, Gia couldn't say that she didn't try to stop it. Even though she was working with Kenzie, she couldn't resist Chase. There was just something about him that pulled her in. While she respected Alli, a part of her actually wanted to be with him.

"Oh, did that get you?" Emma asked coldly. "You just went quiet there."

"Emma, stop..."

"Now you know how I feel." Emma tilted her head.

"No I don't, you're just trying to vent your anger on me. Stop it!"

Emma smirked. "So, you and Chase..."

"Stop it! You can't have me thinking like this! I'm Alli's friend!"

"You weren't thinking that when you slept with him."

"Emma, please stop it!" Gia cried. "Please, don't do this..."

"No, you fucking bitch!" Emma yelled louder. "I hope you're happy."

"With what? What did I do to you? I'm your best friend!" Gia pleaded. "I'm supposed to help you!"

"I can tell the whole world that you bedded Chase and you'll become the biggest slut on the planet."

"Emma, don't!"

Emma laughed meniachally and left the room. Gia tried going after her, but Emma had already ran far enough. Gia ran back into her room and started crying. She didn't know what made her cry more: the fact that her best friend was doing this to her or the fact that she still liked Chase.

"Troy, what have you done to Emma?" she mumbled to herself before returning to the room.

* * *

Raylan and Emma were thrown awake by the warming of their morphers. Usually, Raylan's morpher was the only one that warmed up while Emma's remained dormant as a request to Gadget-X. In order to take care of Casey, Emma vouched to silence her morpher to prevent her from going to battle. Now, however, both of their morphers were warming up.

"What the hell is going on?" Emma asked, looking at her dazed husband. "My morpher is getting hot!"

"I have no idea. I thought it wasn't supposed to do that." Raylan answered.

"_Raylan! Emma!_" Gadget-X's voice alerted through the morphers. "_Thousands of wyrms have infested the city! Every other Ranger is out there but it's not enough!_"

"Whoa!" Raylan exclaimed. "Are you serious?"

Emma looked concerned. "What about Casey?" she asked.

"_Make a pit stop over here! Since I'm taking care of Alissa at the King household, I can help with Casey._" Gadget-X answered.

Raylan nodded. "We'll be there. What kind of army are we looking at?" he asked.

"_There are thousands of lesser wyrms. I can't sense a Dragon Priest in the area, which should be a relief for you. Like I said, every other Ranger is out there and it's still not enough._"

"Even Shane and Mike and Sydney and Tyler and those guys?" Emma asked.

"_Yes, they need your help._"

Emma sighed. "We'll drop Casey off and get onto the battlefield ASAP." she affirmed.

Raylan held his wife's hand. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked her.

"It's the only choice we have." she replied.

Raylan nodded. "Then let's get out there."

* * *

Raylan and Emma ran onto the field as soon as they dropped Casey off. It was the first time that Emma had suited up for battle since Casey was born and Raylan could already tell that his wife was uneasy. She seemed jittery and wasn't exactly sure of herself when she got there.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" Raylan asked her.

Emma nodded affirmatively. "Raylan, I can do this. Just believe in me."

"Whatever you say." Raylan replied. "I'm sure Casey would be proud."

The battlefield was a mess. Raylan and Emma could tell that some Rangers were either working well together or were avoiding each other. Emma Goodall and Gia seemed to be apart from each other, which completely contradicted their usual behavior. Emma was also far away from Troy, something which bothered the older Emma, especially after their talk.

"This doesn't look good." Emma Westbrook reported.

"No, it doesn't." Raylan agreed. "Come on, let's fight." he said, grabbing his wife's arm and pulling her into the mess.

And with that, Emma let go of all her fears and ran into battle.


	38. Exo's Army

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

It had been an hour into the battle and half of the downtown district was already destroyed. News copters were everywhere trying to get good footage of the battle to present to excited and terrified viewers all across the world. Dead bodies dotted the entire battlefield, causing a distraction for the Rangers.

The fight that the Rangers were pushing for wasn't going well. It was evident that Exo sent most of his lesser wyrms at the city, which easily outnumbered the Rangers. While they had been used to fighting these small menaces, they hadn't ever fought them in such large numbers.

Ryleigh and Raylan were having terrible times trying to coordinate the Rangers. They had just as much trouble commanding their old teammates as they had commanding the new Rangers. It had been a long time since some of the more experienced Rangers fought, leaving the unexperienced rookies without any good guidance.

After they realized that the battle was growing pointless, Raylan and Ryleigh came up with a better plan. They decided to partner up the Rangers either based on color or experience to have everyone's back covered. Raylan and Emma were partnered, Ryleigh and Johnny were partnered, Tyler and Mike were partnered, Shane and Sydney were partnered, Chase and Troy were partnered, Nick and Noah were partnered, the Jakes were partnered, Kenzie and Gia were partnered, and Alli and Emma were partnered. Jordan was the only one who fought solo due to his unique set of powers.

Raylan and Emma charged together into a small cluster of about twenty or so wyrms. Raylan was the one doing most of the work while Emma was just trying to save her own ass from being blown off.

"Emma, stand back!" Raylan commanded his wife as he ran in to protect her from an army of wyrms.

"Thanks, honey!" she replied, blasting them from behind. "Having a kid really wears you down."

"Ryleigh seems to disagree." Raylan said, pointing to Ryleigh's and Johnny's wyrm-slaughterfest.

"Whatever..." Emma frowned behind her helmet.

When Raylan took care of the ambushing group of wyrms, he gave Emma the thumbs up to continue fighting. The couple charged into another army of wyrms to destroy.

That had been the plan the entire battle. Since these wyrms tended to group together, the Rangers plotted to throttle each small cluster of wyrms. By ripping apart the little cliques, they would be able to dismantle the entire wyrm army.

Johnny tore into one cluster of wyrms and unleashed all hell. Ryleigh stood behind him and beat at any wyrms who thought they could land a sneak attack on her husband.

"These guys are annoying as hell." Johnny groaned.

"Tell me about it." Ryleigh replied.

A wyrm tried pouncing onto her but was quickly shot down by Johnny. He chuckled to himself and blew onto his blaster.

"Too easy." he smirked behind his helmet.

"We should move onto another group."

"Yup, let's go."

Mike and Tyler ran a highly offensive style of fighting. Rather than watching each others' backs, they just plainly ran into the groups of wyrms. They aggressively slashed at the wyrms, providing for quick and easy kills.

"This is so much easier than those shadows we had to face back in the day." Mike reminisced.

"Let's exterminate this pest." Tyler agreed, beating a few extra wyrms to the ground.

"Whoa, when did you learn to fight like that?"

Tyler looked at his fists. "I really have no idea."

Shane and Sydney may have been the most awkward pairing on the team. They had never been left alone in quite some time, and based on what they had done together in the past, they were rendered silent. Shane and Sydney could only interact with each other in a group where everybody else could keep them talking.

"So...um...about the weather..." Shane started as he took down a wyrm.

"Yeah, it's really...uhh...nice..." Sydney replied, tackling another wyrm.

Shane punched the head off a wyrm. "Well, this is...some job..."

Sydney nodded and shot the head off of another. "Yeah...I'm having...uhh...fun..."

Shane finished off the last wyrm in the pack. "Should we...you know...move on?"

"Yeah, that sounds...umm...good..."

Chase was kicking ass with Troy. As the two Red Rangers of the new teams, they were supposed to be the best fighters on each respective team. While they were nowhere near Ryleigh, Raylan, and Johnny in terms of battle strength, they were still very capable. Rather than spending their time socializing on the battlefield, they were busy doing their job.

"There are two more left, I think you know what we're supposed to do." Chase told Troy.

"Let's take one each." Troy nodded before lunging at one of the wyrms.

"Down with Exo!" Chase exclaimed, throwing himself on the other wyrm.

"This isn't much of a fight." Troy said as he got up and watched the wyrm he attacked disintegrate.

"These guys are pretty pathetic, if you ask me." Chase dusted his Ranger suit off.

Nick and Noah were fighting a defensive battle. Both of their minds were capable of waiting for an attack to counterattack. Instead of going at the wyrms, they waited for the wyrms to come over to them to parry their attacks.

"One, two, three!" Noah counted the wyrms he destroyed with his Shark Bowgun.

"Dude, that's impressive." Nick agreed.

"Four, five, six!" Noah continued.

"Seven, eight, nine!" Nick added in from his own blaster kills.

"We make a great team." Noah said as he finished off the last of the wyrms in the pack.

"Hell yeah we do! Bluies for the win!"

The Jakes weren't exactly on sync. Jake Fernandez was more of a defensive fighter while Jake Holling was more of an all-in fighter. As a result, they weren't working together in the fight. Jake F. played the fight like the Blue Rangers did while Jake H. played the fight like Mike and Tyler did. Eventually, though, their combined styles started to come together.

"Damn, I didn't think we'd be able to pull that off." the Black Ranger said, dusting his hands off.

"I hate these wyrms, but we have to get onto the next set." the other Jake replied.

"Let's get on it, then. Jake power!"

Gia and Kenzie were actually working very well in battle. Since Kenzie was the worst fighter on the team, the strength and willpower of Gia was the push she needed. Kenzie would lead wyrms in as 'bait' and then Gia would pounce at them with her Tiger Claw until they were finished off.

"Wow, we work great as a team." Kenzie complimented.

"It's not the first time." Gia replied.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I'm talking about..." Gia mumbled. "It's just...I can't say it."

"Explain it to me after the fight." Kenzie said. "Let's get on with the battle."

Emma would not work with Alli. Alli was the one doing the work while Emma stood there and tried to simply protect herself. It was a good thing Alli was a good fighter, or else the pair would have experienced a quick beating.

"Emma, what are you doing!?" Alli explained as she watched the Megaforce Ranger get tackled to the ground.

Emma writhed her way from under the wyrm and punched it to the ground. "I'm fighting the way _I _want. I don't tell _you _what to do, do I?" Emma snapped.

"Okay, then..." Alli raised her hands defensively. "I was just saying..."

"No, you weren't saying _anything_."

"Umm..."

"Now I suggest we move on before I'm the one who ends up kicking your ass."

Alli slowly nodded and followed Emma.

Jordan was, unfortunately, fighting the wyrms by himself. He had the most unique suit, an all gold-plated set of knight armor. Due to his metallic suit rather than the typical spandex, he was able to take more hits from the wyrms. Once he finished off what he was doing, he followed the rest of the Rangers into the heart of the battle.

The Rangers all grouped up in the middle as they realized that they had the wyrms surrounded. They slowly ate at the army of thousands until there were only a few hundred left standing.

"Let's finish what we started, guys." Raylan said, pulling out his blaster.

"On your command." Johnny agreed, pulling out his blaster as well.

* * *

**==Underground Temple, Saudi Arabia==**

Deep in the Underground Temple, Exo and his servant watched the battle from a massive crystal ball. His servant was promised entry into the battle as a general when it was a last resort. The plan was failing and the Rangers were easily defeating the wyrm army.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Exo shouted. "I refuse to lose!"

"I think I can finish them off." his new servant general said.

"Wait a minute..." Exo thought. "I have a new weapon that I want to unleash on them."

"What kind of weapon?" the servant asked.

"It's a potion that I found on my travels so long ago." Exo answered. "Follow me to the library."

Exo waved his finger for his servant to follow him closely to the library. Exo opened the large doors to the library and led the servant to the second floor. In there, Exo pulled out a book from a shelf, revealing a large white flask hidden behind it. Exo opened the flask and poured a small amount into a test tube. He handed the test tube to his servant.

"Go into the battlefield and drink this." he said.

"What does it do?" the servant asked.

"In small doses like this, it allows you to grow exponentially. I don't believe the Rangers have any sort of weapon to counter this sort of attack."

"I will serve you well, master." the servant bowed.

"Do not fail me. If you succeed in battle, I will promote you to Dragon Priest."

The servant nodded. "This won't take long." he smirked.

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Raylan pounded the last wyrm in the army down to the ground. The Rangers clapped and cheered when they realized that it was all over. They all unmorphed, circled around each other, and pulled each other in for hugs.

"That took way longer than it should have." Chase panted. "I'm glad you're safe, Alli." he told his girlfriend, pulling her in for a hug.

"You were awesome out there." Alli replied.

Just when they thought it was all over, the servant floated over to them. He lowered himself down to face the nineteen of them. Knowing that it still wasn't over, all of the Rangers entered into defensive stances.

"Perfect timing, isn't it?" the servant asked. "Looks like it's not over. Prepare to meet your doom!"

"What are you talking about?" Raylan asked, holding up a fist.

"I have here the weapon that will finish you off." the servant laughed, taking a drink out of the potion.

Raylan and the rest of the Rangers stood back as they watched the servant grow to an immense size. Once the servant stopped growing, he looked down at the Rangers and roared.

"How do you like me, now?" he asked.

Raylan put his mouth to his morpher. "Gadget-X, are you there?" he asked.

"_What service would you like today?_" the robot answered.

Raylan turned to the rest of the Rangers. "I think it's about time you finally unravel the project you've been working on." he said into the mic.

"_Really? Oh boy, this is gonna be so much fun! I'm sending the Zords right now!_" Gadget-X exclaimed.

"What's going on here?" Chase asked. "There's a secret project that you're about to show us?"

Raylan smirked. "Oh yeah there is, and you're about to kick some wyrm ass with it!"


	39. Titans

_Uh, I hate updating over the summer because I'm never here and vacations are thrown around everywhere :(_

_I promise when summer ends I'll be back to normal updating!_

_Anyways, on with the story!_

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

The sight in the sky caused Raylan to smirk a little bit. Finally, after days of programming and initiating, Gadget-X was able to engineer new Zords for both new Ranger teams to use. Raylan opted out of using Zords for his own team due to their continues bad luck with Zords.

The eleven robotic bioforms soared through the sky and into the battlefield. It didn't take long for each Ranger to realize which one belonged to what Ranger. A massive gold Zord, which stood out amongst the bunch, looked like it went to Jordan, who was the only unique member of the team.

The massive Red Dragon found its way to Troy and landed in front of him. Noah, Jake, Gia, and Emma received the Shark Zord, Snake Zord, Tiger Zord, and Phoenix Zord, respectively. The equally massive Red Horus found its way to Chase and landed in front of him. Likewise, Nick, Jake, Kenzie, and Alli received the Uraeus Zord, Griffin Zord, Sphinx Zord, and Serpopard Zord, respectively. A large golden phoenix that looked similar to Chase's Zord, but much bigger, landed in front of Jordan.

"Why can't I mix with the other Zords?" Jordan complained.

"Relax, I'm sure Gadget-X found a way around that." Raylan reassured. "Besides, you have the biggest one."

Jordan nodded. "So, what do we do with these things? It would suck to have to climb into them..."

"Why would we make you do that?" Raylan asked. "Each of you look up to your Zord...become one with it."

"That sounds really corny." Alli chuckled.

"I know..." Raylan answered. "But it is what it is."

"How do we do that?" Chase asked.

"I don't know." Raylan shrugged. "They're _your _Zords."

The Rangers closed their eyes and imagined themselves as a part of their spirit animal. It didn't take long and the Rangers were beamed in flashes of colorful lights to their cockpits.

"Wow, this is amazing!" Chase exclaimed. "Time to kick ass!"

In the meantine, the servant was having a blast tearing up the city. He spared no mercy to any buildings and was relentless with the media choppers. He grabbed one and threw it at another, showing his discontent with the humans.

"Hey, you can't do that!" Troy yelled form his cockpit. "Dragonfire, activate!" he shouted, pressing a button as his Red Dragon fired synthetic flames at the large wyrm.

"What was that for?" the servant asked.

The older Rangers watched from the ground. "Hey, you guys can form up your Zords into a Megazord!" Raylan exclaimed.

"What?" Chase asked. "Then let's try this, guys!"

"If you say so!" Troy agreed. "Megazord, form!" he exclaimed, pressing the big red button in his cockpit.

"I'll do the same!" Chase said, pressing his red button.

"My turn!" Jordan smiled, pressing his red button.

The eleven Zords flew into the sky and started to revolve around each other. They started to split into three distinct bodies. The five Megaforce Zords became one, the five Palisade Zords became one, and Jordan's phoenix Megazord started to transform.

**==Megazord Formation==**

Troy's Red Dragon starts to fold inwards and hover above Jake's Snake and Gia's Tiger. Jake's Snake extends and latches onto Gia's tiger, which also latches onto the bottom of Troy's Red Dragon, creating the legs and body. Emma's Phoenix and Noah's Shark lower and attach as arms to the Red Dragon. The Red Dragon pulls out a head whose eyes then light up. The Rangers teleport to a common cockpit and shout: "Gosei Great Megazord!"

Chase's Horus Zord does a very similar thing as Troy's Red Dragon does. Nick's Uraeus mimics Jake's Snake and extends out to latch onto Alli's Serpopard. They attach as legs onto the Horus Zord. Kenzie's Sphinx and Jake's Griffin lower down and attach as arms to the Horus. The Horus folds its own head to pull out a humanoid head whose eyes then light up. The Rangers teleport to a common cockpit and shout: "Horus Great Megazord!"

Jordan's Gold Phoenix Zord folds its feet inward, pulling out a pair of humanoid legs. The wings start to move back, creating room for arms to fold out of the Zord. The head of the Gold Phoenix folds back, revealing a humanoid head whose eyes then light up. Jordan's cockpit extends and he shouts: "Gold Phoenix Megazord!"

**==Formation Ends==**

"This is _incredible_!" Chase exclaimed at the center of the cockpit. "Let's finish this guy off for good!"

The other Ranger nodded in the Megazords and went straight at the enlarged wyrm. A few good punches and kicks were thrown, but it was still three-to-one. The Rangers had an obvious advantage.

"We should take cover." Mike suggested.

"There's a building nearby that's not down yet!" Tyler pointed out. "Let's take shelter there!"

"Come on, let's go!" Raylan announced, leading the Rangers into the building.

Outisde, the battle seemed like it was an easy win. The three Megazords had the enlarged wyrm cornered. They surrounded him, preventing escape. When he tried shoving past one of the Megazords, the others would pull him back in.

"Going somewhere?" Chase asked from his cockpit.

"You think your pathetic machines can defeat me?" the wyrm taunted.

"That's far enough." Noah said, sending a punch from the Shark Zord.

The wyrm stumbled backwards before hitting the ground. He shook the blow off and got back to his feet. Before the Rangers could react, he sent punches to the Gosei Great and the Horus Great, knocking them to the ground.

"Missed me!" Jordan taunted, kicking the wyrm with the Gold Phoenix.

"No I didn't!" the wyrm laughed, punching the Gold Phoenix to the ground. "Far too easy."

Raylan and the rest of the Rangers reached the top of the building to get a view of the battle. The perfect height of the building put the Rangers eye-to-eye with the Zords and the wyrm.

"Bring him over to the lone building in the radius." Raylan said to his mic. "I think I know how to take him out."

"We're on it." Chase affirmed, lifting the Megazord up.

"Oh, you're not done yet?" the wyrms asked. "Another punch should do the trick."

The Gosei Great put its hand in the way of the punch. "Nice try, but three outnumbers one." Troy said.

Jordan put the Gold Phoenix's hands under the wyrm's armpits. With a heave, he used the Megazord to lift the wyrms into the air and over to the building where Raylan was at. Once he was level, he dropped the wyrm. The wyrm got up and looked at Jordan's Zord.

"You want a piece of me?" he asked.

"He doesn't, but I do!" Raylan announced.

"Who said that?" the wyrm turned around. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the Dovahkiin. What could you possibly want from me?"

"Your corpse." Raylan smirked.

"Huh?"

"YOL TOOR SHUL!" Raylan roared, blowing a massive blast of fire at the head of the wyrm.

The wyrm let out a bloodcurdling scream for the entire city to hear. He stumbled back and covered his face from the burn. When he couldn't hold his weight, he fell to the ground.

"What have you done?" the wyrm asked. "Feim zii!" the wyrm teleported away.

"What was that?" Ryleigh asked Raylan. "Did you just...breathe fire?"

"Don't worry about it." Raylan sighed. "It's hard to explain.

"Shit, he got away!" Shane exclaimed from the top of the building.

"Yeah, I think we see that, captain obvious." Sydney replied.

"Shut up, you're acting like a little kid."

"No, _you're _acting like a little kid!"

"Guys!" Raylan turned to them to silence them. "This is good for right now. I think that's all we could have done."

Shane and Sydney sighed in unison. "Fine." they both groaned.

"Let's get back down there and see if the Rangers are alright."

Back at the center of the battlefield, the Rangers teleported out of their Zords and sent them away. They were so tired that none of them could actually find anything to say about the situation.

"That guy was a bitch." Alli finally said.

"Tell me about it." Gia agreed. "This entire portion of the city is destroyed."

"It'll take forever to rebuild." Kenzie added in.

"Not to mention the lives lost." Nick said.

The older Rangers ran down to meet with the younger ones.

"Are you guys okay?" Raylan asked.

"Yeah, we're fine, but the city isn't." Troy answered.

"There were at least a thousand deaths." Jake Holling added in.

"I've never seen anything like this..." Raylan said, glumly.

"Come on, let's get somewhere save." Ryleigh said. "Is the Java House still standing?"

* * *

**==Underground Temple, Saudi Arabia==**

The servant teleported to the Underground Temple in such a weak, pathetic state that it didn't appear to be him at first. He grogged his way to Exo's room, trying to shake off boos and taunts from other wyrms.

"You dare show your face here, again?" Exo asked. "I'll have your head!"

"It wasn't easy!" the servant growled. "You try facing nineteen Power Rangers. They even have robots that match our enlarged size!"

"You don't understand..." Exo sighed. "Your mission was to destroy the city first and the Rangers second."

"Once again...it wasn't easy!"

Exo raised his staff and then put it back down. "I'll spare you this time. Fail me again and I will behead you. That is a warning!"

The servant bowed. "Oh thank you, gracious lord."

"Now get out of my sights!"

The servant scurried out of the room. Before Exo could get a chance to breathe, one of his remaining Dragon Priests entered.

"Zahkriisos, what do you need?" Exo asked his priest.

"Master, I wish to fight the Rangers. I believe that they do not stand a chance against me."

"I can't lose one of my most powerful Dragon Priests."

"But if you don't send a powerful one in, you will never win the battle."

Exo sighed. "Fine, go guard the Word Wall in Bloodskal Barrow."

Zahkriisos nodded. "I will do as I am told, master."

"Whatever, just go."

When Zahkriisos left the room, Exo sighed to himself. He was fighting a losing battle and all of his Dragon Priests were dying out. While he was a Dragon Priest himself, he didn't have the courage the face the Rangers on his own. Even when he faced the Dovahkiin one-on-one, he had ended up fleeing. His servant was right, it was time for action.

Exo got up and looked around the room. He decided that it would be right if he accompanied Zahkriisos for backup. He knew that the Rangers would be able to pick up the Dragon Priest's signal from the barrow, so he would have enough time to plot a secret attack on them.

"Zahkriisos, come back!" Exo announced.

The Dragon Priest ran back into the room. "What would you like, my master?"

"I will accompany you to Bloodskal Barrow. If we team up against them, we will surely win."

Zahkriisos bowed before his master. "It will be my honor and privelege to take you alongside me during this battle. I will not fail you."

"You better not. I have already lost four Dragon Priests to their onslaught. I want this to end now! Earth is our plane, not theirs!"

Zahkriisos bowed one last time before teleporting away with his master. This was a plan that Exo was sure wouldn't fail.


	40. Osirin and Isus

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Luckily, the suburban side of Palisade was still standing, meaning that the Rangers still had places to sleep at night. After the quick breather at the Java House, the Rangers headed home to get some sleep after the long battle.

Chase decided to walk Alli home. Since she was his girlfriend, it would only be fair of him to walk her home at this time of night. If a wyrm were to show up, she would be alone in the battle.

"Thanks for taking me home, Chase." Alli smiled. "It really means a lot to have a guy like you looking out for me."

"It's my pleasure. I'll take any chance to spend some alone time with you." Chase replied, kissing his girlfriend on the cheek.

"There's only one thing I have to talk to you about..." Alli bit her lip. "In battle, Emma told me something."

"What did she tell you?" Chase asked.

"Umm...she told me that Gia still liked you. Is that true?"

"I have no idea, but I thought she never liked me from the start."

"I have another question..."

"Ask away."

"Do you like Gia?" she asked softly.

Chase chuckled. "Alli, why would I like Gia? I have the most beatiful girlfriend in the world. You're nice, smart, funny, and personable. Why would I give up the definition of perfection?"

"Well..." Alli blushed. "I wouldn't want to argue with that."

"There would be something wrong if you did." Chase kissed her one more time on the cheek.

"Stop it, Chase. Don't make me all happy like this before bed." She giggled. "My dad doesn't know I snuck out and the last thing I want is for him to catch me walking in the house laughing my ass off."

"He should know you don't do drugs or anything."

"Yeah, but I still don't want him to be suspicious. The last thing I need is to get the talk when I don't even do anything."

Chase leaned in and kissed his girlfriend on the lips. "I'm proud of you, baby."

"I love you, Chase."

"I love you, too, Alli."

* * *

Things were quiet between Emma and Gia. Despite facing a huge monster together in the cockpit of a Megazord, Emma found it impossible to talk to her best friend. After the whole Troy incident, Emma wanted to have nothing to do with Gia.

"Emma, you've only known the guy for a few weeks. You've known me your _whole life_. Is he really worth it?" Gia asked.

"Did I ask you to open your mouth? Now shut up and go to sleep." Emma replied harshly.

"Emma, don't do this, we're best friends."

"A best friend doesn't steal a guy."

"I didn't steal Troy! It's not my fault that he likes me! What the hell can I do about it?"

"You can try staying away from him?" Emma suggested.

"Emma, you know that's impossible. We're Rangers, we have to stick together."

"Not if I can do anything about it!" Emma yelled as she tried to storm out.

"Emma, you can't go into the city! After today, there's no way in hell people will let us out on the streets."

After the attack, the police and military swarmed the area. Since the Rangers couldn't give up their identities, they all had to unmorph and take hiding somewhere else. They got to the Java House just in time to get a few drinks before heading off home.

"Does it look like I care what people think of me?" Emma asked. "I only care what Troy thinks of me..."

Gia held her best friend by her shoulders. "And Troy will think you're a beautiful girl if you just act like one."

"How do I do that?" Emma sniffled.

"Since there probably won't be any school tomorrow, I think I can show you how." Gia smirked. "Troy will be head over heels for you in a heartbeat."

"You really think so?"

"I _know _so."

Emma leaned into her best friend. "Gia, I'm sorry for everything. I shouldn't have lashed out at you. You did nothing wrong."

"And I'm sorry for taking Troy from you. I didn't mean to, but I promise that I'll change everything."

* * *

Raylan and Emma picked up Casey from Gadget-X and headed home. The couple was tired after the battle, especially Emma. Emma hadn't fought with the Rangers for a while, so it was tiring to have to get back into the routine. It wasn't something that she enjoyed doing, but it wasn't like she had a choice. When the fate of the world came knocking on her door, she had no choice but to answer it.

"Today was a terrible day." Emma told her husband after she put Casey to sleep.

"What do you mean?" Raylan asked as he filled up a glass of water. "We won the battle."

"At the expense of most of the city. Come on, millions of dollars and thousands of lives were lost. This isn't something the city can just recover from easily."

Emma spoke the truth. While the Rangers had pushed the wyrms away from another attack, the city suffered most of the damage. This was the first time since J's final battle that an attack on a city was so large-scale. Since the country hadn't faced such an attack in ten years, the people weren't expecting it. After the defeat of the shadow menace, people had a higher sense of security.

"You're right, and there's no saying that this can't happen again. There is an insane amount of wyrms still left." Raylan groaned. "How will we every be able to actually get rid of all of them?"

"It's going to take more teamwork. By that, I mean we need _every _Ranger to cooperate. I didn't see that out there."

"What are you talking about?" Raylan asked. "I thought they all worked together perfectly fine."

"All but one: the Pink Megaforce Ranger."

"You're right, she was doing her own thing." Raylan scratched his head.

"I talked to her a while back and she said that love was holding her back."

"Love? How silly! This is only high school." Raylan laughed.

"Hey, _our_ relationship started in high school, too." Emma reminded her husband. "And besides, it's easy for a guy to shoo away love. Girls are usually in it to stay."

"What should we do about this, then?"

"We have to play the waiting game."

"That sucks..."

"Random question: how come it took so long for their Zords to come?"

"Making large mechanical robots isn't that easy." Raylan answered as he took a sip of water from his glass.

"We got ours almost instantly, remember?" Emma reminded him.

"Yeah, but that's because we had the evil genius J creating them for us." Raylan raised his eyebrow. "There was some magical power he used which we couldn't."

"Have you ever wondered why he did that for us?" Emma asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Like, why did he make Zords? Wasn't his whole purpose to exterminate us? Making weapons of mass destruction for us completely contradicts his plans."

"What the..." Raylan replied. "I never thought about that. But didn't he say he just wanted to see the most powerful of us to eat?"

"He _did _say that, but can you take the words of a criminal mastermind to heart? He had some other purpose, but I just can't pin my mind to it."

And with that, Emma and Raylan started to think deeply. They hadn't faced a puzzle as hard as this for a long time and it confused them. Fortunately, both of them were intelligent and knew how to think outside the box.

"Holy shit!" Raylan facepalmed. "It all makes sense now!"

"What are you talking about?"

"So the creator of all this crap is Osiris. You're familiar with him, right?" Raylan asked.

"The demon-god of Egypt. Yeah, I know who that is."

"Well, the dragons who tought me my shouts also told me that Osiris is an Anti-Spirit. You remember them, right?"

"Yeah, like Antin, and Tyrin, and all that crap."

"And what's the suffix for an Anti-Spirit?"

"It's -in, right?"

"But here's where it gets freaky." Raylan smirked. "Who was Osiris's sister?"

"Uhh..." Emma thought. "Wasn't it Isis?"

"Bingo! And what's the suffix for a normal Spirit?"

"I think it's -us."

"Correct!" Raylan beamed. "Now you fill in the blanks."

"Isis...hold on a minute...Is_us_? Whoa, what the hell!?" Emma's eyes widened. "...Isabelle."

"Isabelle Daley is our key. That crazy girl is still alive, Emma." Raylan smiled. "She's our only help."

"This just might be the craziest thing I have ever heard."

"There's only one problem." Raylan said. "If Isabelle was created in our world after the existene of Osiris, why do the stories from millenia ago tell us what happened between the two? I thought she was only created ten years ago."

"I get it now."

"What do you mean?" Raylan asked. "I don't seem to understand."

"Come on, use your Stanford-educated brain. It's basically the temporal predestination paradox causality loop."

"Uhh..." Raylan said, scratching his hair.

"You know the big bang theory, right?" Emma asked.

"Yeah, of course."

"Well, it's pretty much like that. Basically, the universe created Isabelle, who then created Isis, who then created the universe, who then created Isabelle, who then created Isis, and so on, and so on, and so on, and so on."

"So Isis is a figment of her own creation."

"Yes, she basically created herself to create everything else."

"Greatest. Mindfuck. Ever." Raylan chuckled.

"That still doesn't answer our big question. What did J want with us? If he managed to create Isus, why did he need us?"

"Emma, isn't the answer obvious?"

"No..." Emma answered in a confused tone.

"J wasn't agaisnt us. Well, not at first, but when he saw a resistance by us against him he was. Remember, he told us himself as Gehn that our mission was to destroy him?"

"Yeah, I do remember that one small imperfection." Emma agreed.

"He told us to attack him to see how strong we were, like he said. His real enemy was none other than..._Exo_."

"That's such a far fetched conclusion. How can you be sure that you're right? The odds are so against that."

"No, the odds aren't." Raylan answered. "They both attacked us the same way: by sending armies of their minions at us. J was raising us to be part of his army against Exo. When Exo awakened to J being gone, he knew it was his time to rule."

"Huh?"

"This was _obviously _a power struggle. Two vile creatures fighting for the same purpose - to rule the Earth. By killing J, we also killed our chances at fighting off Exo."

"But if we didn't kill him, we would all be dead." Emma replied.

"That was our mistake from the start. We weren't supposed to go all out against his forces, we were just supposed to fend them off. When he saw that we miscalculated his purpose, he realized that we were a failed cause. Eventually, our failed cause allowed us to overpower him. When he realized he had no other alternative, he tried to take adavntage of Exo's slumber."

It all started to come together for the two. The fight against J was only as good as the fight against Exo, and without the two titans going against each other, the Rangers were the only ones with the power to overpower. While the Rangers had succeeded in saving lives, they had failed in saving the world. This was a mission that only the Rangers could complete.

"That's...the most beautiful thing I've ever heard." Emma finally said.

"I know, right?"

"Even if you are right, we still have another problem." Emma stated.

"And what's that?"

"Where is Isabelle Daley?"


	41. Bloodskal Barrow

**==Bloodskal Barrow, Transnistria, Moldova==**

The lonely miner swung his pickaxe at a grey rock outisde the entrance to Bloodskal Barrow. He was determined to find some jewels in the land before the other miners woke up. Finally, after hitting into the rock for almost two hours, he broke inside. He put his pickaxe down and looked at the crystals that were inside.

Since the discover of Bloodskal Barrow in the late 1900's, many poor Moldovan citizens flocked to the area in hope of finding riches. Since Bloodskal Barrow was an ancient burial site for local rulers, there was a high probability that there would be jewels and riches sprawled throughout.

The miner put his hand in the rock and pulled out a few colored crystals. After inspecting what he had found, he put his loot into a small pouch that he brought with him. He was on the path to riches.

Another miner found him and walked over to him. "Hei, ce faci?" he asked what the first miner was doing.

"E treaba ta." the first miner replied, stating that it was none of his business.

"Eu ar trebui să spun sefului ca esti furat prada." the second miner threatened to snitch on the first miner for stealing loot.

"Să Te provoc." the first miner dared him to.

"Ce-ar lupta asta? Eu bat și apoi nu mai ai aici." the second miner asked for a fight, with the loser having to leave the camp.

"Tu nu va fi, lașule." the first miner taunted him, calling him a coward who wouldn't fight.

Suddenly, the doors to Bloodskal Barrow swung open and Exo and Zahkriisos flew out. The terrified miners tried running for their lives, but they were too late. The Dragon Priests quickly struck them down with lightning spells.

"Stupid humans, I want them all dead!" Exo demanded.

"There appears to be another small gathering of humans nearby." Zahkriisos replied, pointing to the huts of miners.

"Let's kill them all."

"After you, my master."

"It will be my pleasure in taking them out." Exo laughed, wreaking havoc with lightning spells. When he was sure he burnt the entire colony down, he turned to Zahkriisos. "Quick, let's get inside and reach the Word Wall. Emanating energy from there should be enough bait to lure the Dovahkiin to our trap." Exo said as he and Zahkriisos went back into the massive cave.

"What if he wipes the floor with us, again?" Zahkriisos asked.

"I will make sure that he does not. I will make sure that _you _do not fail, understood?"

"Understood, master." Zahkriisos bowed.

"Good, now let us proceed further."

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Raylan sighed as he stepped out of the car. Emma drove him out to the middle of nowhere so that he could call Odahviing and fly back to Kangchenjunga. There was no way the couple would be able to find Isabelle on their own, so Raylan decided that he would need the help of the dragons.

"Hopefully I'll be back by tomorrow." Raylan said, pulling his wife in for a hug.

"Remember, tell me everything you find out. It's better to have two people working on this than having to work alone. I won't tell anyone else any of this because it's still unconfirmed and I don't want to start anything." Emma replied.

"I'll be home as fast as I can. I'm not sure how much help the dragons are going to be, but it's worth the shot."

"Go out there and make me proud. Remember, we're dealing with the fate of the world here."

"I know, honey." Raylan kissed his wife on the forehead and then looked to Casey, who was sleeping in Emma's arms. "I'll miss you the most. Be good for daddy." he kissed his daughter on the forehead, as well.

"Now go out there and make me proud." Emma smiled.

Raylan sighed and looked to the sky. "Odahviing!" he shouted, taking a deep breath afterwards.

"You called?" the large dragon asked as he landed in front of Raylan.

"Yeah, can you take me back to the sacred mountain?" Raylan asked. "There are some things I need Paarthurnax's help with."

"I can do that for you, Dovahkiin." the dragon nodded. He looked over to Emma and Casey. "Is that your family?"

"Yes that is." Raylan smiled and looked to them.

"I met your wife a while ago."

"Oh, did you?" Raylan asked.

"He invaded my dreams." Emma chuckled.

Raylan smiled and looked to his dragon. "I hope you didn't give her too much of a scare." he laughed. "Well anyways, I need to make a quick trip to the moutain, so..."

"Right." the dragon affirmed. "Climb on my back."

* * *

Chase woke up quite happily that Friday morning. Since half the city was obliterated, there was no school. As a result, there would be no trip to Moldova, something he did not look forward to. While he did look forward to visiting Russia and Ukraine, Moldova was a small country which he didn't take much interest in.

His phone vibrated and he checked the message from his girlfriend. "_good morning cutie :) we dont need to travel so we can HANG OUT!_" it read.

"_haha, race you to the java house?_" he challenged.

"_u r on...last one there has to buy_"

"_u know ill be buying regardless_" Chase smiled as he replied.

He walked into the bathroom to brush his teeth and take a shower. It wasn't normal for him to take Alli out somewhere during the day, so he wanted to look extra nice at his ugliest time of day.

When he got out, he walked over to his closet to decide what to wear. He wasnt' sure whether he should dress like he would dress for school or just throw on a pair of athletic clothes. Since he was going out to see his girlfriend who had seen him much worse, he wasn't sure he could get uglier.

He smiled and decided to actually dress somewhat decent. Once he put his clothes on, he grabbed his car keys and rushed out of the house.

It took a few minutes, but Chase was able to reach the Java House. He groaned as he saw Alli already sitting at a table by herself. With his head slumped down, he slowly walked over to her table and sat down directly across from her.

"Since I was here first..." Alli smirked.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I already know I'll be paying." Chase replied. "So, what can I get for you?" he asked.

"I'll just take a hot chocolate."

"Going back to the basics?"

"You know it."

* * *

The alarm clock rang in the hotel room and Emma got up bright and early. Even though there was no school, she still felt like she had to get up. It usually took a long time for her to get ready, so she'd rather start on it early.

She frowned when she notied that Gia wasn't in the room. Gia was supposed to help her talk to Troy in the morning, but she was nowhere to be found. Emma groaned and got up to go to the bathroom. When she walked in, she found a note on the bathroom mirror.

"_I'm guessing that by now you're probably pissed at me. Don't be. Last night, I had Kenzie text Troy to see the kinda stuff that he's into. He's coming to the room around eight expecting me, but instead he'll find you. He's an only child, he loves martial arts, he hates chocolate, he listens to classical music (Bach is his favorite), he's never asked a girl out, his type of girl is the sensible one, and he hates when girls go over the top with their looks. Anyways, sorry for the ditching but it had to happen in order for this to work. Good luck! -Gia_" the note from Gia ended.

Emma couldn't help but keep a grin on her face. This was the best thing Gia had ever done for her, even though it was a little bit awkward. At least she would get her chance to talk to Troy. Something like this was long overdue for her.

She peeped her head out the door to check the time. She was that she only had a few minutes to get ready so she jumped into the shower without hesitation. When she was done getting ready, there was a knock on the door.

She quickly squealed and opened it. "Hey, Troy!" she exclaimed as she saw him.

"Hey, Emma. Is Gia around?" he asked. "I kinda heard-"

"No, she's not here." Emma cut him off. "But I am."

"I guess that's fine." Troy said.

"Would you like to come in?" Emma offered.

Troy looked around the hotel halls. "Yeah, I don't see why not." he said as he took a seat on the hotel couch. "So, what's going on?"

"Nothing much. I hear you're into martial arts." Emma smirked.

* * *

"That plan was perfect." Kenzie told Gia as they walked through what was left of the city. "It's past eight so I hope Emma's doing everything alright."

"I haven't asked her, yet." Gia replied. "I hope Troy didn't chicken out and skip."

"He wouldn't do that, he seems like a nice guy."

"I _know _Emma's going to kill me when I get back if the whole thing backfires." Gia chuckled. "That's why I should just hang around you for the whole day."

Kenzie laughed loudly at that. "It's not my fault if she gets to you."

"Listen, Kenzie, there was something I needed to talk to you about." Gia changed the mood.

"What is it?" Kenzie asked. She remembered the little talk she and Gia had during the fight against the wyrm army.

"It's about...Chase..."

"What about him?"

"I guess after the whole Alli set-up, I kinda got to know him. Are you catching my drift?" Gia asked.

"I don't think I am." Kenzie shook her head. "Specify."

"Chase and I spent quite a bit of time together that one day we had..."

"I'm still not getting it."

Gia breathed deeply. "I think I'm in love with Chase."

"Whoa, what did you just say?" Kenzie stopped in her tracks.

"I'm in love with Chase." she sighed.

"But you know he's with Alli. You _can't _love him, especially after all that you did for Alli!"

"I know he's with Alli, and I don't want them to break apart. I'm telling you this because I need help. I want someone to snap me out of this, and you're the best Ranger at advice-giving. So, could you help me out here?"

Kenzie smirked. "So, Emma's love doctor needs help from another love doctor, eh?"

"Yeah, that's the case." Gia smiled sheepishly.

* * *

**==Kangchenjunga, Sikkim, India==**

Odahviing landed Raylan onto the peak of the massive Himalayan. Raylan stepped off his dragon and found Paarthurnax meditating not too far away. He walked over to the green dragon.

"Paarthurnax, there's some help I need." Raylan said.

Paarthurnax opened his eyes and faced Raylan. "What would you like, Doavhkiin?"

"You know the whole Osiris and Isis thing right?" Raylan asked.

"Yes, I am aware of their tale. What is it that you need?"

"I need to find Isis, I used to know her a while ago."

"You expect a miserly dragon to find out the location of a _god_?" Paarthurnax said with a hearty laugh. "That's utterly preposterous!"

"But there has to be some way!"

"If there is, then I do not know of it." Paarthurnax sighed. "I am not a follower of Isis, so it is best not to expect me to come up with anything."

"Where would I find a follower of Isis?" Raylan asked.

"As far as I know, they are scattered all around the world. There aren't very many of them, but they are definitely there."

"I'll be sure to find them." Raylan nodded.

"Dovahkiin!" another dragon bellowed from the sky as it landed. "We have found the location of a Dragon Priest!"

"Where?" Raylan asked urgently.

"It's in Bloodskal Barrow, which is in a place you call Moldova."

"I'll get there as fast as possible." Raylan affirmed.


	42. Cyclone

_I have no idea why, but this chapter was accidentally deleted. Well, here's the re-upload._

_Anyways, on with the story!_

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

"Come on, Noah, I need _something_." Jake pleaded his best friend. "You're an antisocial tech geek, I get that, but you have to know at least _something _about Gia!"

Jake and Noah were in their room doing what Jake thought was absolutely nothing. While Jake was just sitting in one place staring at the wall, Noah was busy trying to get a match started on his _League of Legends _account.

"Jake, if I really did know something about your crush, why would I hide it from my best friend?" Noah asked.

"Because maybe you're into Gia as well?"

"That's ridiculous." Noah laughed. "You know dating isn't my thing."

"But there has to be something that you two talked about. You've been on this team for a while now and you haven't said one word to her?"

"Well, I probably have said a few words to her, but nothing of significance."

"You interact with Gia and don't even drop my name?" Jake groaned. "What the hell kind of crap is that?"

"Listen, Jake, it's not that I don't care for you two, it's just that 'dating isn't my thing'. I thought I just told you that. My entire goal is to stay out of stuff like this and fly under the radar."

"Noah, Noah, Noah, when you will learn?" Jake sat by his best friend and placed his arm on Noah's shoulder. "You've just got to get out a little bit more and talk to people. Not sitting on your couch all day and playing _League of Legends_. Come on, bro, have a life!"

"I'm very happy with what I'm doing right now, thank you very much. Maybe _you _should be the one going out. That way you could at least talk to Gia. Maybe she'd even appreciate the effort." Noah suggested.

"That's...that's...that's genius!" Jake exclaimed. "You know what? I'm going to go out and talk to her right now! Well, once I find out where she is and all..."

* * *

**==Bloodskal Barrow, Transnistria, Moldova==**

Raylan and Odahviing made their way over to the Bloodskal Barrow. Raylan walked over to the gate of the burial site, which looked like it could have been the grand golden gate to heaven.

"I guess this is the place." Raylan stated.

"Yup, we're here." Odahviing replied. "If you ever need me, just call my name. I'll be circling around the area, undetected."

Raylan nodded, morphed, and went into the cave. He didn't know what to expect in a burial ground, as his previous exploits had been in simple caverns. This time, however, the place would be teeming with undead. He knew that the wyrms had a spell to resurrect the dead and he was sure that they would use it.

When the place started to get darker, Raylan used his Fire Breath shout on a piece of wood and carried it around like a torch. While it provided lighting, it still wasn't enough to traverse through the massive set of caves.

The worst part, though, was the amount of skeletons that lined the walls. Raylan expected them to jump out of him at any minute, but made it far enough with enough confidence that they wouldn't. He knew he wouldn't be able to make it out of there alive if they all just popped out and ambushed him.

Luckily, he made it to the heart of the burial site and saw the massive word wall sitting in the center, with a white glow emanating from it. He knew that the Dragon Priest would be somewhere nearby. He pulled out his Glass Sword of Fire just in case something snuck up behind him.

"Hello, there..." he heard a familiar voice whisper behind him.

Raylan turned around to face Exo. "You! I'll kill you!" Raylan exclaimed, swinging his sword at the head Dragon Priest.

"Missed me." Exo jeered as he dodged out of the way. "Dovahkiin, prepare to meet your doom!" Exo exclaimed as Zahkriisos appeared from the shadows.

"Pleased to make your acquaintence, Dovahkiin!" Zahkriisos laughed. "How would you like your death to be, today: quick and painless or slow and torturous?"

"Neither!" Raylan roared as he engaged in battle with the two.

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Jake rushed into the Java House in record time. After texting Gia for a little bit, he told her that he had something important to tell her, and she told him where she was. He was relieved to see Gia there with Kenzie and walked over to their table very slowly and nervously.

Kenzie and Gia knew very well that Jake had something for Gia, but they wanted to see how he would act out. Gia wasn't interested in him at the moment, but she felt it would only be fair to give the guy a chance. After all, a Ranger always owed it to another Ranger.

"Hey, Gia." he said awkwardly, taking a seat at the table. "What's going on?"

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Gia asked.

"I...uh...just wanted to know...like...how you are and all." Jake stammered. "I just thought...maybe...you know...that we could just hang out...cause Noah's all boring right now."

"Yeah, so what did you want to talk to me about?" Gia asked again.

"Oh, you know, just this and that, and maybe a little bit of the other stuff." Jake rambled. "Maybe threw in a bit of this mixed with two of that and if we're lucky we can subtract that from this and make a this-that."

"Jake, are you okay? You're not making any sense..."

"Okay? Okay? Of course I'm okay! Why wouldn't I be okay? There's plenty of stuff to be okay about! You be okay about the weather, the situation of the economy, the size of the planet, the noises around us, pretty much anything! Gia, what's not there to be okay about?" Jake rambled some more. "Well, there is some stuff that's _not _okay, like starving children in other countries. That is most definitely, positively, absolutely, not okay."

"Jake..."

"Isn't that a great name? Jake! That's a great name! I'm glad my parents named me Jacob because it's an awesome name and I can be called that! Yay! Whoopie! Wee-hoo!" Jake laughed. He was hysterical.

"I think you might need some water." Gia said, throwing her cup of water at him. "Better?" she asked.

"Wow!" Jake exclaimed before he calmed down. "Whoa, that was what I needed."

"Yeah, you weren't making sense." Gia chuckled. "It was actually kinda cu-"

Gia didn't get to finish what she said as Jake farted beyond the audible sound barrier. The entire population of the restaurant turned around to see who cut the cheese, and Jake ran out of the restaurant with a rosy-red face.

"I think you should go after him." Kenzie suggested.

Gia nodded and ran after him. Kenzie got up as well and followed her out of the Java House. They knew he was only nervous and had his little 'accident' on accident. Gia could understand, but she wasn't sure whether Jake was as understanding as her. For the entire time she knew the guy, she knew he was sensitive.

"Jake..." Gia placed her hand on his shoulder as she caught up with him.

"I'm sorry you had to hear that...and possibly smell that." Jake scratched his head.

"Listen, it's okay. I know you were just nervous." Gia smiled. "Besides, it's not like nobody does it."

"Gia, I don't want to be an embarrassment." Jake sighed. "If you think I'm being shameful, then you don't have to hang around me."

"Jake, that's not the case at all!"

"Then what is the case?" Jake asked.

"I know how you feel about me." Gia sighed. "I know you like me, but I don't feel the same way about you...at least not yet. I'm not saying that I won't ever have feelings for you, but I just don't have them at the moment. I hope you understand."

Jake nodded his head. "I understand, Gia. But remember, if you ever need me, I'll be waiting."

"Trust me, I'll call if I need to." Gia smiled.

* * *

Things between Emma and Troy were actually kind of awkward. While Emma was tyring to talk to him, he seemed to be on the awkward side. It was hard getting him to open up.

While Emma and Troy were definitely paving something into their friendship, things still weren't going too great. She could see that Troy felt uncomfortable at times, wondering where Emma got her information.

They had been in the room for two solid hours, even though it felt like a whole day. Emma had barely made any progress, and they eventually just watched _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_, which was playing on TV.

"So, I know you like Gia." Emma finally said when the movie ended. It was her last hope at trying to get him to break. If she wasn't going to get him to talk by generosity, it would come through surprise.

"Gia? Where'd you get that from?" Troy asked ridiculously. "Why would I like her?"

"I remember you wanted to give those yellow flowers to her."

"Hm...oh, you're talking about those!" Troy had to think to remember. "Those weren't from me!" he exclaimed.

"What are you talking about?" Emma raised an eyebrow. "You walked over to me with them and asked me where she was."

"Those were from Jake. Since he was too nervous to give them to Gia on his own, he asked me to do it for him. He didn't want her to think badly of him or anything. He was pretty upset that they never got to her."

"But why didn't you tell me that?" Emma asked. "You pretty much had me..." Emma remembered that she wasn't supposed to spill her feelings. "Well, you had me and Gia on the edges of our seats."

"Um, you kinda stormed off angrily for some reason before I even got a chance to open my mouth. You tought I liked her?"

"Yeah, I kinda did..." Emma bit her lip and smirked. "So, you don't like Gia?"

"No, of course not. I mean, it's not that she isn't bad looking or anything, she's just not my type."

"I see." Emma replied. She couldn't resist cracking a smile.

"So...uhh...what was your point?" Troy asked her after an awkward silence.

"What do you mean?"

"Did you want to see if I liked Gia or something?"

"Well, no, not really." Emma stated. It would be hard for her to explain.

"I think I know what you're getting at." Troy smirked. "Listen, your offer is sweet and all, but..."

"But what!?" Emma asked urgently.

"I don't think dating is the right thing to do when the world is under attack. Chase and Alli are already enough for one team, now imagine another couple."

"Are you saying?" Emma's heart fluttered.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. Maybe when we're done with all this crap, I can take you out for coffee or something."

Those words were powerful. Emma literally felt her heart grow in size inside of her. It was an amazing feeling. She was willing to wait if it meant having a chance with the man of her dreams.

Emma grinned and nodded her head eagerly. "Sounds good to me!" she chirped.

* * *

**==Bloodskal Barrow, Transnistria, Moldova==**

Raylan stood over the body of Zahkriisos and smirked. He took the Dragon Priest out like it was nothing. Exo, on the other hand, was the real challenge. Raylan was having a tough time dodging his lightning spells.

"Give up, yet?" Exo asked as he struck the ground with a lightning spell.

"I never give up." Raylan said as he dodged Exo's attack. "Yol toor shul!" he roared at Exo, hitting him square in the face.

"Ow, that hurt!" Exo fell to the ground. "What was that for?"

"I'll kill you right here, right now! It'll make your whole effort worthless!" Raylan lifted his sword and stood over his nemesis.

"No you won't, feim zii!" Exo shouted, teleporting away.

Raylan's swing barely missed as Exo faded into the distance. He sighed and walked over to Zahkriisos's body. He picked up the Dragon Priests's mask and added it to his collection of artifacts.

"One day I'll get you." Raylan mumbled, walking over to the word wall. After examining it, he recognized the three main words as "_Ven Gar Nos_", translating to "_Wind Unleash Strike_".

Raylan stood back and faced a wall. "Ven gar nos!" he roared, spitting a massive tornado out of his mouth. The cyclone spun for a good minute before it winded down.

"Exo, you're just leading yourself to your own death." Raylan laughed. "I'll kill you. I'll kill all of you."


	43. Au Contraire

_Whoo! It's been a while since a last update! Well, I'm back and still in action! It just took a while planning this chapter, it was kinda hard to write._

_Anyways, on with the story!_

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

"Noah, I completely blew it!" Jake complained to the Blue Ranger as he barged into the room. "I thought I had something going, and then I just collapsed!"

"Slow down and tell me what happened." Noah replied, closing his laptop.

"I went in there to have a nice conversation with her and then I...farted..." Jake admitted.

"Whoa! Hold up..." Noah chuckled. "You..pfft...farted!?"

"Uhh, yeah."

"Ha-ha-ha-ha! That's the funniest thing ever!" Noah laughed loudly. "See why I try to steer clear from girls? It's nothing but trouble!"

"And that wasn't the worst part." Jake continued. "It was right when things got quiet and everybody in the whole damn Java House could hear. Not one person couldn't hear it and _everyone_, I mean _everyone_, turned around to see who cut the cheese. Do you know how embarrassing that is!?"

"No, I don't know how embarrassing that is because I don't go out, remember?"

"Noah, I don't know what to do!"

"Neither do I..."

"Then who should I ask?" Jake shouted. "This is getting annoying!"

"Ask Chase, he got with Alli pretty quickly. And I'd say she's neck-and-neck with Gia in terms of attractiveness."

"That's...that's right! Chase and Alli got together because of that whole saving thing." Jake realized.

"And remember, Chase dated Gia for a few days, too." Noah reminded.

"Chase did what!?"

"Kidding..." Noah mumbled as he realized Jake didn't know. It was better to keep it that way for the time being.

"So, I have to save Gia when she needs my help! It's brilliant!"

"How do you plan on doing that?" Noah asked.

"When a wyrm attack happens, I'll be there to pick her up!"

"Whatever..." Noah shook his head. "Good luck with your...plan..."

* * *

Alli walked home alone after buying some snacks from the local gas stations. While everyone told her to either drive or walk with someone, she didn't feel the urge to be with anyone or try to get into a car.

She sighed as the frigid air bit her skin. The October weather was taking its annual toll on the people and jackets started to become a common sight. Alli held onto herself in order to preserve some form of body warmth.

Suddenly, she heard laughter behind her. She turned around to see that there was nothing but the sidewalk. Confused, she turned around and continued walking. She stopped again and turned around when she heard more laughter.

"Who's there?" she asked quietly. "This isn't funny!"

She turned around and walked straight again. It wasn't too long before she heard more laughter. She closed her eyes and tried to shake it off as she continued to walk.

"Where are you? Show yourself!" she exclaimed. "I'm not afraid of you!"

"There's no need to be afraid..." she heard a familiar voice whisper from the woods nearby. She couldn't make out the person who was speaking due to the distorted pronunciation of his words, but she knew she had heard it before.

Alli slowly crept to the woods where the thought the laughter was coming from. She pulled a few branches out of the way and looked behind a few trees. However, she found nothing, to no avail.

"Come on out! I can take you on!" Alli challengd.

She didn't have time to think as a force lifted her off her feet. Expecting to be tackled to the ground, she pushed her attacker back to the ground. She staggered to her feet as she saw who it was.

"What the hell!?" Chase exclaimed as he writhed in pain. "I was just trying to mess with you!"

"It's just you..." Alli gasped as she knelt by her boyfriend. "Don't do that to me again, or I _will _rip your balls off."

"Trust me, after what you just did to me now, I'm going to think twice before sneaking up on you."

Alli chuckled and eased Chase's pain. "I'm sorry, but I'm just practicing self-defense."

"I think I figured that out." Chase whispered as he propped himself up to kiss her.

* * *

**==Kangchenjunga, Sikkim, India==**

Raylan and Odahviing landed on the peak of the mountain. When Paarthurnax spotted them, he perched nearby to consult with the Dragonborn.

"Dovahkiin, what happened?" he asked. "Did you slay the Dragon Priest."

"Yes, I did." Raylan nodded. "But Exo got away."

"As long as you are one step closer to your goal, it is not a failure." Paarthurnax assured him. "Now, I have something important to tell you. I didn't know when the time was right, but I feel like it is now."

"What's up?"

"Back when I was just a young dragon, Exo and J erupted in a war, as I know you have figured out."

"How did you know I knew?" Raylan asked.

"When you put your mind on something like this, _we all know_. But that is not the point."

"So what's the point?"

"Exo fought for the Dark Dragons, as you know."

"Yeah."

"But J...he fought for _us_. He fought for the Light Dragons." Paarthurnax stated.

"Wait...huh?" Raylan was astounded. "That means..."

"Yes, you and J were fighting a war against each other to fight the common enemy."

"So he knew I was the Dragonborn?" Raylan asked. "What the hell?"

"No, he did not know that..."

"Then how did he pick me out of around seven billion other people in the world?" Raylan asked.

"Fate." Paarthurnax answered. "It was fate."

"Fate? But how is any of that even possible?"

"I will explain that to you in a little while. Tell me what you think of your fellow Rangers."

"Umm...which ones?"

"The teenagers."

"Well, first there's Chase. He's amazing when it comes to fighting, but he a sort of anger issue. I've seen him snap on wyrms and just turn into a wrecking machine. It's both good _and _bad for him." Raylan started.

"Then comes Alli." he continued. "Like Chase, she's amazing in battle. While Chase is brawn, Alli is brain. However, also like Chase, she tends to have an anger issue. She'll tear down anything that gets in her way."

"The third Ranger is Jake Fernandez. He's quiet and I don't hear much from him that often, but he's a decent fighter. What he does is his own business, so I don't have that much info on him."

"Nick is like the social one. Instead of using fists, he chooses to use words. He can talk to anybody, regardless of age or attitude."

"Kenzie is the friendly one. She's accepting of everyone and wants things to go the right way. She's a bit caniving, though. I heard she came up with some plot with Gia. I'm not sure what it was about, but it apparently worked."

Paarthurnax nodded as he listened. "Now, move on to the second set. The ones whose powers were created by you."

"Troy is the leader of the second set. He's insane in battle and has _years _of martial arts experience. He's extremely athletic and unafraid of any challenge."

"Gia seems like she's second-in-command. Her willpower and brains makes her a force to be reckoned with in combat. She takes a bit getting used to and is cold at first, but she opens up rather quckly.

"Jake Holling is kinda cocky, but he's funny. He tries to do what's best for his team, but that doesn't mean it's always right. His massive high-school-style crush on Gia can be exploited by the bad guys if they know about it."

"Noah's the Blue Ranger and the most awkward one of the group. I've never heard him say a word that doesn't have to do with Ranger duties. Apparently, he's Jake Holling's best friend, but I just don't see how anyone could manage to break his shell."

"Last, but not least, is Emma. She's the strangest of all the Rangers. Her attitude goes all over the place and it's hard to tell if she's happy or mad. In fact, it's so hard getting to know anything about the girl."

"Do you notice anything familiar?" Paarthurnax asked.

"No, I don't think I do..." Raylan replied, unsure of his answer.

"Long ago when J was the Dovahkiin, he had a group of Ranger-like people called 'The Blades.' Exo had his own army of 'Blades' as well, but you stole his morphers in a raid, as we all know."

"Yeah, I remember that." Raylan nodded, thinking about the Palisade Rangers.

"Those Blades were shaped in the image of their master. In this case, the Rangers are shaped in _your _image."

"Huh?" Raylan asked. "What are you talking about?"

"These Rangers are entities of you. They are, essentially, a part of you."

"What the hell are you talking about!?" Raylan exclaimed. "But I'm me! How is all this possible?"

"It's fate. Going back to the whole thing about J."

"Yeah, that still confuses me."

"He didn't know you were Dragonborn, but we did. When we found out that he was growing power hungry, we had to get rid of him fast. Thus, we created your powers and transferred them to you when you were still in your mother's womb. When the time came, J would supposedly 'call you to action' only for you to kill him. It was all part of the plan."

"That...that makes so much sense. But how is it even possible? That defies all the laws of physics!" Raylan exclaimed.

"There's only one thing in this world that can defy physics, and that's magic. When the time is right, we _will _make something happen using our powers."

"Wow, that's incredible!" Raylan was truly amazed.

"The world is shaped in your image, Dovahkiin."

"What do you mean?"

"Au contraire to the popular phrase, the world doesn't revolve around you. In fact, the world _does _revolve around you, and only you."

"What do you mean?" Raylan asked.

"Just as you need the world to survive, the world needs _you_." Paarthurnax answered. "Without you, the world would fall to the armies of Exo...and even J."

Raylan was silent for a minute. "Wow, that's a lot to digest. But still, what do I have to do?"

"You have to find J. I remember he had a plan for defeating Exo, but he was never able to carry it out."

"How would I find him? He's dead!" Raylan exclaimed.

"He's dead in the form of a celestial body, but not dead in the form of a spirit."

"So I would have to find the location of his spirit?" Raylan asked.

"Yes, you would." Paarthurnax nodded. "In fact, that may be the key on finding Isus. Those are the two people you need to see in order to defeat your rival."

Raylan bowed and nodded. "This is a shitload of information, but I think I know what to do with it. I will serve you well and bring peace to the world."

"Good, my Dovahkiin. Make the human race proud." he smiled as he watched Odahviing carry Raylan back to the United States.

* * *

_Eh, it's kinda sloppy, but I had to get this out. Like I said, this was a bitch to write, but here it is! I hope you all enjoyed reading it just as much as I did writing it!_

_And like always, **droppin a review never hurt!**_


	44. Exo's Master Plan

_It took a while, but the Ranger pics are finally up on my profile! :D_

**==Underground Temple, Saudi Arabia==**

"I'm so sick of this! Nothing is working! The empire I built from ground-up is falling as I speak!" Exo cried on his throne. Three of his Dragon Priests: Morokei, Dukaan, and Volsung, were there to offer support.

"Master Exo, if I may suggest..." Morokei started.

"What do you have to offer me?" Exo asked sarcastically.

"How about going on a Ranger manhunt?" Morokei asked. "We've tried baiting, luring, kidnapping, war-waging, and even _intimidation_. None of that has worked."

"How do you suppose a manhunt will work?" Exo asked.

"I think I understand what Morokei is saying." Dukaan added in. "It's my understanding that he wants the three of us to go after the weaker Rangers, lowering the Dovahkiin's support. Then, when he has nobody left to back him up, we go in for the kill."

"That idea is...genius!" Exo exclaimed. "It's a sure-fire plan!"

"Why haven't you thought of this before?" Volsung asked Exo. "The best way to take care of the problem is to kill it, not stall it. We've been stalling all this time."

"Yes, _now _I understand, Volsung." Exo groaned. "Just get to work."

"So who's first?" Morokei asked. "I call dibs on the Red Ranger."

"Slow down there, Morokei." Volsung interrupted. "How about we focus on the weaker Rangers? Without them, the stronger ones will have no support."

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Jake smirked as he saw Gia in school. After locking on to his target, his next goal was to attack with a bite. The only thing he had left to do was go in for the kill and Gia Moran would be all his.

"So, Gia..." he said as he caught up to her. "Are you free this weekend? You know, since this whole 'foreign exploration' this was botched."

"Yeah, I'm free, why?" she asked back. She knew where he was getting, but she didn't want to seem that easy. She still wasn't convinced that she had any real feelings for him yet, but she'd give him a chance.

"I was just wondering maybe...uhh...you might wanna hit up the Java House or something?"

"Don't we do that every day?" Gia asked back, silencing Jake.

"Uhh...but I mean this time it's just us two."

"You got somethin' special planned?"

"Uhh..." Jake stammered. This was a lot harder than he imagined. "Well, how about you come down and see for yourself?" he suggested.

"Are you asking me on a date?"

"You could call it that if you want, but I'd rather call it 'Ranger bonding'." Jake said. "We can get to know each other better so we...uhh...battle together better. You know what I mean?"

"No, I don't know what you mean." Gia chuckled. "Jake, I hope you know it'll take some time for me to actually return those feelings to you, right?"

"Right..." Jake sighed. "Well, I guess I'll just be off then."

"Actually, I'll be there." Gia smirked. "Don't disappoint."

"Wait...hold on..." Jake was shocked. "Did you just...?"

"Yup." Gia smiled as she walked away. "Eight P.M. on Friday, don't be late!"

"No way!" Jake cheered to himself when she was out of earshot. "That was amazing!"

* * *

Emma walked past Troy's desk in English class and waved to him. She usually ignored him, but she knew that her best bets laid in befriending him. Ever since their last talk, Emma had been more optimistic about where her relationship with the Red Ranger would go.

"Hey, Troy!" she gleefully greeted him.

"Wow, someone's awfully happy." he said as he gestured for her to sit next to him.

"Eh, today just seems like my day for some reason."

"Then let's keep it that way." he smirked.

"I like the way you think!" Emma giggled.

Some guy tapped Emma on her shoulder. "Hey, shut up, I'm trying to learn." he blared at her.

"Whatever..." Emma shook her head and smiled at Troy, who returned the gesture.

* * *

**==Smalltown, California, United States==**

Shane twisted the key into his house lock and finally entered his house after the 'nice' vacation in Smalltown. After the massive wyrm war, he was glad to be home and away from the problem.

When he walked into his house, however, he felt an odd presence. He knew his wife was home for the day, but there was another presence he felt. When he looked at the ground, he saw another pair of shoes. They were about the same size as his, but were clearly different.

He raised an eyebrow and slowly crept up the stairs. He heard some rumbling coming from the master bedroom and he wanted to check it out. He let out a sharp scream at what he saw.

"Susanna! What the hell are you doing!?" he shouted at his wife as he saw her lie naked in the bed with another man.

"I...uh...I was just...testing the..." she stammered.

"I should go now..." the other guy said as he got up and tried to put his clothes on.

"No! You're both staying and explaining what happened!" Shane yelled. "I can't believe you would to this to me, Susanna..."

"Shane, I'm sorry..." she wept. "I didn't mean to..."

"After all we've been through, you would sleep with another man?" Shane asked. "And you're saying that you didn't mean to? How the fuck does that even make sense?"

"Shane, please..."

Shane sighed and tried to keep calm. He had just discovered his wife in bed with another man and still needed time to process what had just happened. The woman he gave his life to was having her way with another man. With another man. _With another man_.

"No! We're done! Since I'm the primary income in this house, _and _the house is in my name, I demand you two to leave!" he decided.

Susanna cried as she put her clothes on. Shane just watched her and tried to hold back his vomit. It was sickening to see his wife, the one he loved, have to put on her clothes after sleeping with another man. Shane shot the guy an intimidating glare and growled. The man cowered back with fear.

"Chill, dude." the man defended himself. Shane silenced him with another growl.

"If this is the way you make it to be..." Susanna whimpered.

"I'm not the one who made it this way, it was _your_ decision to cheat on me."

"Fine!" Susanna cried as she ran out of the house, leaving Shane with the guy Susanna cheated on him with.

"I think this is a great time for me to leave..." the other guy said.

"GET THE _FUCK_ OUT!" Shane screamed, scaring the guy off.

When Shane was the only person left in the house, he sat on his bed and started crying. How did things end up this way for him? What did he do to deserve an unfaithful wife?

"This sucks..." he groaned as he tried not to cry.

He wanted to spend the rest of the day home alone to think about what had just happened, but he knew that was an unwise decision. He needed to tell someone about it. Someone who was really good with relationship problems. There was only _one _person he could think of: Sydney.

* * *

**==Somewhere above the Atlantic Ocean==**

Raylan flew on Odahviin on his way back to Palisade. After finishing his work in Bloodskal Barrow, Odahviing offered to fly him back home. Raylan quickly agreed and hopped on his dragon to get back home to his family.

"Dovahkiin, I may have the answer to what you need." the dragon said.

"What do you mean?" Raylan asked as he observed the calm ocean from the back of the dragon.

"A long time ago, when J was about your age, there was a shout we discovered."

"A shout?"

"Yes, this shout was said to bring back the fallen spirits that fought for us. We thought that maybe we would have an invincible army if we were able to put it to good use."

"That's incredible."

"That's what we thought at the time. In order to preserve balance in the war, we decided to entrust J with the usage of the shout. However, things turned very awry very quickly."

"What happened?"

"At the same time, Exo discovered a shout to preserve his fallen comrades. That way, his departed souls would be kept forever, rendering them undead."

"And that's how the wyrms were created, correct?"

"Yes, that's how the wyrms were created. But lets get back to the shout that I was talking about. Since Exo wanted nothing to do with our casualties, we had to find a way to bring them back ourselves. After weeks of work, Paarthurnax came up with the _ultimate shout_. He entrusted J with it, and thus the shadows were born."

"So you guys inadvertantly created the shadows?"

"I guess you could say that..." Odahviing trailed off. "After seeing the mighty population bow down to him, he grew power hungry. The war was no longer about bringing peace to the land, it became a _competition_. He wanted to beat Exo in order to rule the world."

"I guess you can't really put much blame on the guy, then..."

"But that's not the point of what I was telling you."

"No, I get _exactly_ what you're saying. You're saying that this shout is the only way I can get to bring J back and speak to him."

"You may be able to bring Isus back, as well." Odahviing added in.

"Then let's turn around and get back to the mountain. I have some convincing to do."

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Chase and Alli decided to leave school campus for a little lunch date. Since the next day was her birthday, he decided that he would treat her with an early birthday gift at an upper-class restaurant.

Chase booked the reservations at a fancy Chinese restaurant. He remembered Alli saying on numerous occasions that Asian food was her favorite, so he figured it would be best to take her there.

"How are you going to be able to afford this?" Alli asked in amazement as she walked in. "This place looks like it costs a thousand dollars per plate!"

"Well, it's close to that, but I saved up on my job. If you've noticed, I haven't bought anything in a while."

"You did all this for me?" Alli asked. "You're the best!"

A waiter approached the couple. "Hello, how may I help you two on this fine day?" he asked them.

"We have a reservation for two at 12:30." Chase answered.

"Ah, yes, come this way." the waiter said as he led them to their table.

Alli took a moment to take in the beauty of everything. It was the perfect date with the perfect guy. Not to mention that the restaurant was critically acclaimed, meaning that she was ensured to have a good meal. Chase was a great guy and she was glad that he would take time out of his day to do this for her.

"Wow, this place is really nice." Alli complimented. "We're sitting next to the aquarium? Awesome!"

"May I start you off with some beverages?" the waiter asked.

"I'll just have water." Chase answered, thinking of the clear water in the aquarium.

"Same!" Alli chimed in.

"I'll get your waters right away." the waiter said as he walked away.

"Chase, there's something I need to talk to you about." Alli stated urgently.

"What's the matter?"

"I don't want to be the one to rain on the parade, but I'm not exactly feeling good."

"What do you mean?" Chase asked as he gently held his girlfriend's hand.

"There's just...this feeling..."

"What feeling? Alli, please tell me."

"I can't describe it, it's just this weird feeling that something bad is about to happen. I just want somebody to be there to comfort me."

"Alli, I'm _always _there for you. There's no need to worry."

The waiter approached the table again with their drinks. "Here are your drinks, may I get you started on your meals?" he asked them.

"Why don't you just relax for today and enjoy the meal? Everything will be fine, I promise." Chase smiled.

"Okay..." Alli sighed and nodded.


	45. Happy Birthday, Pink Ranger

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Morokei found his way to Palisade and took a look around the city. It was clear that the city was still rebuilding after the massive wyrm attack. He could see the large traces of damage that Exo's army had done. Unfortunately, the Rangers were there to thwart his plans.

"So, this is where the Rangers live..." Morokei laughed meniachally.

He floated over a few buildings and examined the city. The depictions of the Rangers were vivid in his mind as Exo described them to him. He could not make a single mistake when finding the Rangers as killing innocent humans would ruin the purpose of the plan.

"Today is going to be a great day!" Morokei exclaimed loudly.

* * *

**==Smalltown, California, United States==**

Volsung reached Smalltown at about the same time that Morokei reached Palisade. Smalltown looked like a thriving city with at least a population of one million. It would be hard finding four Power Rangers there.

"Master Exo said that these Rangers would be much older..." Volsung muttered to himself. "I should keep an eye out for non-adolescent human beings."

Volsung lowered himself from the air as he spotted a human that matched Mike's description. The man was in the corner of two walls talking on the phone.

"Yes, honey, I'll bring what you asked for!" the man yelled at his wife on the phone. "What do you mean you don't want me to come home late, again? Trust me, the kids will be fine..."

Volsung appeared in front of the man and drew his sword. "Today you die, Power Ranger!"

"Power Ranger? What are you talking-?" the man was cut off as Volsung stabbed him.

When the man collapsed and died, he didn't let out the energy signal that Volsung was looking for.

"Damnit, that wasn't a Ranger!" Volsung growled. "False alarm, I must move on, then."

Volsung blasted the man's body with a spell, disintigrating it on the spot.

* * *

**==Himalayan Mountains, Asia==**

Dukaan trekked through the Himalayas on foot. The bitter cold aid made levitating extremely cumbersome, and since Dukaan was already proficient in ice spells, he would be able to brave the weather.

He was tasked with killing Raylan. Since he was the most powerful of the three Dragon Priests sent out, Exo entrusted him with the most responsibility. That also meant that failure would not be tolerated.

"Bloody Dovahkiin, when I lay my hands on you..." Dukaan muttered. "Making me go through this horrid wasteland."

In the distance, he saw the peak of Kangchenjunga, the third tallest mountain in the world. He knew from extensive research and spying that the dragons had their home on its peak.

"Jackpot." he smirked.

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

"Happy birthday!" the whole school chanted as Alli walked through the doors.

"How did you guys...?" she asked and looked around.

The whole school was out front to wish her a happy birthday. Somebody had to have organized this because Alli hadn't really done anything significant publicly to receive such a large birthday shout-out. She was sure the Rangers had something to do with this.

"Happy birthday, cutie!" Chase wished her as he snuck up on her.

"Did you do this?" she asked him.

"Well, I had help." he answered as the other eight Rangers walked over to her.

"You guys are amazing!"

"Actually, it was Nick's idea. You know how he is when it comes to organized things..." Chase admitted.

"Thank you so much!" Alli squealed as she hugged Nick.

"Really, it was nothing." Nick replied, his words choked by Alli's hug. "I kinda can't breathe here...

"Sorry..." Alli apologized as she let go.

She took a good look at all the kids who were there for her. She couldn't even recognize most of them, so it was touching to see them there. Alli was one of the more popular girls in school, but she never realized the extent of her impact on everyone.

"This is amazing..." she muttered to herself. "All these people...just for me?"

"Yup, the minute that Nick said your name they all agreed to come." Chase said as he wrapped his arm around his girlfriend.

"Wow, people really care about me..."

"Who doesn't? You're probably the nicest kid around here. Not to mention everything you do for the school!" Kenzie chimed in. "It's hard for a person _not _to like you!"

The bell rang and the students dispersed.

"I guess I better be off to class." Alli said as she walked away.

"Hold up! Nick and I are rickshawing you to class." Chase said as he brought out the large vehicle.

"What the...? Cool!"

* * *

Chase, Gia, Troy, and Jake Fernandez sat at a common table in Calculus class. They had been doing so since they met.

"Do you have any more surprises up your sleeve for Alli?" Troy asked Chase.

"There _is _one more thing..." Chase admitted.

"What is it?" Jake, Troy, and Gia asked in unison.

"Homecoming is coming up next week and I wanted to ask Alli to the dance. It would be super cool if she could go with me."

"When are you planning on asking her?" Gia asked.

"I want to ask her tonight. I'm taking her out to dinner the way I took her out to lunch, yesterday. I know it sounds corny and cliché, but I want to make it look like a proposal."

Jake, Gia, and Troy couldn't stop themselves from chuckling. "That's the oldest one in the book!" Jake exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know, but I don't have a better idea!"

"Well, then, go for it." Troy patted Chase on the back. "And good luck."

"Oh, she's already my girlfriend, it's not like she'll say no."

"You never know..." Jake warned him. "The future is unpredictable. Something might show up that's beyond your control and she won't be able to go. It's not like it's never happened before."

"Thanks for being optimistic, Jake." Chase said sarcastically.

* * *

"Hey, birthday girl!" Emma greeted Alli as she sat down next to her in Biology. "How has your day been, so far?"

"It's been nice." Alli replied smugly.

"Why the long face?" Emma asked as she noticed Alli's suddenly depressed face. "You were such a happy camper this morning!"

"I've just been thinking about some things..."

"Like what?" Emma asked. "Are you okay?"

"Have you ever had that feeling where you're not too pleased with the future?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, do you ever feel like something might go wrong?" Alli asked.

"Why the sudden change in attitude?"

"I don't know, I just haven't been feeling good lately. There are just times during the day where I feel like this."

Emma placed her hand on Alli's shoulder. "Alli, we're Power Rangers. Nothing in the world can stop you from being who you want to be."

"I guess you're right."

"Now put a smile on that face and get ready for our lab day!"

"We have a lab today? Now I'm even more concerned." Alli chuckled.

"That's the spirit! Well, not really, but you get the point..."

* * *

The sound of Casey crying kept Emma up. After a long day of work, Emma picked Casey up from the daycare. Casey seemed like she was exhausted, so Emma let her nap. Since Emma was also tired, she thought she could also get sleep. She was wrong.

"Casey, come on..." she groaned. "Let mommy nap."

"Poo-poo!" Casey babbled. The past few weeks were Casey's time to get a better grasp on talking. She had learned to say small words that were generally repetitive.

"Fine, I'll clean your diapers." Emma said as she started to take Casey's diaper off.

Suddenly, there was a loud thud that made the whole house vibrate. Casey stopped crying out of fear and Emma took a look around her.

"Who's there?" she asked loudly. "Show yourself!"

There was no response. Emma sighed and finished changing Casey's diaper. She looked around the house one more time to make sure that there really wasn't anything there.

"Must have been my imagination." she decided.

"It wasn't your imagination..." a voice hissed.

"Come out wherever you are!" Emma shouted as she got in a defensive stance. "I'm not as weak as you think!"

"I _know _you're not weak, Yellow Ranger!"

"So you know who I am, huh?" Emma asked the voice. "Then fight me! It's morphin' time!" Emma shouted as she morphed into her Ranger suit.

"This should be quick." Morokei said as he appeared right in front of her.

Morokei pulled out a sword and swung it at Emma. It struck her Ranger suit but wasn't enough to cause her any real damage. Emma stumbled back but was able to come back to her feet.

"Nice hit, but it takes more than that to bring me down." Emma taunted. "Do your worst! I can take you!"

Morokei took another swing at Emma, but missed completely. Emma took advantage of her moment and kicked Morokei back. The Dragon Priest stumbled backwards and fell on the ground. Emma pounced on top of him and landed several punches before Morokei threw her off.

"That hurt!" he complained as he got up.

"That's what happens when you mess with me."

Morokei walked over to Casey's crib. "I'll take your daughter away!" he threatened.

"Oh no, you won't." Emma muttered as she lunged at Morokei.

Her hit knocked Morokei against the wall. He staggered back in pain as Emma started throwing several more punches at him. Eventually, he got up and moved himself away from her.

"Fine, you win this time, but you haven't seen the last of me!" Morokei warned her. "Feim zii!" he shouted, teleporting away from the scene.

* * *

Once again, after being berated on it for so long, Alli decided to walk home alone from school. The road to her isolated mansion was lonely and required cutting through dense forests, which Alli was actually quite familiar with.

She would have taken a ride from Chase, but he had to stay after school for a math project. Since the bus stopped coming to just her house, her only other option was to walk home alone.

Like her first trip home alone, the chilly fall air nipped at her skin. She tried to hug herself for some warmth, but it still wasn't enough. The weather was unbearably cold this time around.

Then, she heard a soft rustling in the bushes. She stopped dead in her tracks to see if she heard properly.

"I must be imagining." she said, shaking off the noises.

Her walk was quiet for a walk until she heard more rustling. The second time around, she knew she wasn't imagining anything. There really was something in the bushes.

"What's going on?" she asked. "Chase, is that you?"

The noise didn't respond and still kept rustling. Thinking it was just some animal, Alli continued walking. She stopped dead in her tracks again when she heard laughing coming from the bushes.

"Chase, this isn't funny. You're actually starting to scare me."

"Oh, I'm not Chase." Morokei said as he appeared in front of Alli.

"It's morph-" Alli was cut off by a blow to her stomach.

Unlike his fight against Emma, Morokei allowed no time for Alli to morph. Instead, he punched her straight in her stomach, sending her flying to the ground. He smirked as he watched the Pink Ranger writhe on the ground.

"Ugh..." Alli groaned as she rolled around. "Who are you?"

"Me? Who am I?" Morokei asked back. "I'm your worst nightmare!"

"Huh?" Alli asked with all the remaining strength in her body.

"One more thing: happy birthday, Pink Ranger. I hope you like your gift from me!" he laughed as he pulled out his sword.

"No! Stop!" Alli pleaded. "I'll do what you want!"

"Too late!" Morokei exclaimed as he plunged the sword straight into Alli's chest. He stabbed her all over her body just to make sure that she wasn't alive and then dropped his sword on the ground.

"Finally, one of the Rangers is dead." he smirked. "It's been way too long."

Morokei looked at Alli's bloody body on the ground. He casted a spell to make the body disappear and then vanished into thin air.


	46. Shark Joins Serpopard

**==Underground Temple, Saudi Arabia==**

"Wonderful!" Exo laughed as he gloated on his throne. He looked down to the servant who failed him earlier. "Peasant, go grab me something to drink." he ordered.

"Yes, master." the servant scurried out of the room.

"With one Ranger already out of the picture, the unity will be broken. That leaves only eighteen Rangers left."

"Here is a fresh wine." the servant said as he ran back into the room.

Exo took a sip and them spat it out. "This is disgusting! Go get me another!"

"Yes, master..." the servant whimpered and scurried out of the room again.

"Now if we can only kill the bloody Dovahkiin..."

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Johnny and Ryleigh were trying to take care of Alissa when the sound of Gadget-X's carborators interrupted them. They groaned as they both put Casey down and walked downstairs to the basement to go check on him.

"What's going on?" Ryleigh asked the robot.

"This is terrible!" Gadget-X exclaimed. "We've lost a Ranger signal!"

"What are you talking about?" Johnny asked. "What does that even mean?"

"The...the Pink Ranger...Alli's morpher isn't responding!"

"We're both still confused." Ryleigh said. "Explain."

"I'm not getting a signal from her morpher. It's almost as if she vanished off the face of the Earth."

"That's weird..." Ryleigh trailed off and looked at Johnny. "I can talk to some of the kids. I know she's dating the Red Ranger, Chase, so I can give him a call and see what's up."

"You go do that. This whole Ranger thing is way too complicated for me to handle. I'll finish feeding Alissa and whatever else she has to do." Johnny said as he ran up the stairs.

* * *

"Come on, Alli, respond." Chase muttered to himself, looking at the blank screen of his phone.

He was trying to text her to meet up with him at the Java House since he was off for the night. He didn't have much money to afford another fancy restaurant like he told the others, but he did have enough to at least take her somewhere and pay for coffee.

He had texted her almost two hours priot and he still hadn't received a reply. In fact, he even called her a few times to see if she would pick up. His calls were just forwarded to voicemail.

Finally, his phone started vibrated. Excited, he instantly picked it up without even looking at the caller ID.

"Hey, Alli!" he exclaimed.

"Alli? Oh no, this is Ryleigh." Ryleigh said on the other end of the line.

"Oh, hey..." Chase said glumly.

"Why are you so upset?"

"Oh, nothing, I was just expecting Alli to call me now."

"Actually, there was something I wanted to talk to you about regarding her."

"What is it?" Chase asked with a tone of concern in his voice.

"When was the last time you saw her?"

"During school..." Chase replied slowly. He had seen phone calls like this in movies and he had a sad idea on where it was going. "Why?"

"Because Gadget-X over here says that he's not picking up any signal of her morpher. He says it's like she vanished off the face of the Earth."

"Oh..." Chase swallowed deeply. "Um, are you sure she's not just sleeping or something?"

"Chase, I've been doing this for ten years, there's _no way _that Alli is just sleeping."

"But...but..." Chase gulped. "But she's okay..."

"Chase, I hate to tell you this, but there are only two ways that this can be possible: she's either not on this planet of she's de-"

"Don't say it!" Chase exclaimed. "She's alive and well! I know it!"

"I'm not trying to say that she's not alive, I'm just telling you the possibilities."

"Can't you just file a missing persons report or call her parents or something? She's alive! I know she is!"

"We can't do that, that's not our job. That's for her parents to find out on their own. Alli's life and her Ranger duties are two different things that should not be mixed together."

Chase didn't reply. Instead, Ryleigh heard soft sobbing on the other end of the line. She knew this was a lot for him to take in, and she was willing to listen to him. He wasn't the type of guy to cry easily, but she had made it happen. The least she could do was offer him some hope.

"If there's anything you need to tell me..." she said.

"I just want to be left alone."

"Hey, I have an idea. How about we get the whole group to go on a search party mission for her? How does that sound?" Ryleigh offered.

"Okay..." Chase sniffled. "We're going to find her, right?"

"I can't promise anything, but I can offer my hope. I know this is hard, that's why I'm here for you."

* * *

All of the Rangers that were in Palisade - Ryleigh, Johnny, Chase, Nick, Kenzie, Troy, Noah, the Jakes, Gia, and the Emmas, and Jordan - all gathered up in the middle of the woods to go on a manhunt for Alli. Ryleigh and Emma left their babies with Gadget-X once again. Once they all heard what Ryleigh had to say, they didn't hesitate to get out of their houses to start looking.

Chase's spirits dropped when he heard from everyone else that they hadn't seen Alli, either. He was hoping that at least somebody would have seen her or known where she might have gone.

"So, this the path she walks to her house from school, right?" Ryleigh asked Chase.

"Yeah, this is the way." Chase answered

"Let's all search different parts of these woods. She couldn't have gone far on foot in just a few hours." Ryleigh directed the group. "If you guys notice anything odd, communicate with us through your morphers."

"How about we split up into teams of two or three?" Nick suggested. "It's easier to scourge the area with more than one person. Also, if we happen to run into something we can't deal with alone, we have someone else to back us up."

"That's a great idea." Ryleigh agreed. "I'll go with Johnny and Chase, Jordan and Nick can go together, Kenzie and Gia can go together, Troy and Noah can go together, the Jakes can go together, and the Emmas can go together. Does that sound like a plan?" she asked the team.

"Yeah." they replied in unison.

"Good, then let's get going!"

* * *

Johnny, Chase, and Ryleigh were covering the direct path that Alli walked everyday. Unlike the others, who were searching the woods, the trio was on the road. Since Chase was the one who gave Alli rides home, he knew the path in and out.

"Whenever we walked, she would cut the woods through here." Chase said as he pointed to a small grove in the woods.

"Troy and Noah are stationed there, so let's let them do their work." Ryleigh replied. "If they find anything, they'll give us a call."

"This is so hard..." Chase sighed.

Ryleigh put her arm around him. "It'll be okay. We'll find out where she is and what happened to her."

"You promise?"

"I can't promise anything...sorry to have to say that." Ryleigh apologized.

"Ryeigh and I are both hoping for the best." Johnny said. "I know things shouldn't be this way."

* * *

"How come you never hang out with us?" Nick asked Jordan as they both pushed branches out of the way.

"I don't know, I guess I just felt like you already knew each other well and I'd be an awkward extra person." Jordan admitted.

"Dude, don't worry, none of us would treat you like that!"

"But you're all so close. You're like a family."

"I'll let you in on a little secret that really isn't much of a secret."

"What is it?"

"Did you know that Chase and Alli actually hated each other at one point? They were literally at each other's throats." Nick chuckled. "It was an awkward time to be on the same team as them, but they managed to get over it."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I'm trying to say that we have our ups and our downs, but in the end, we're Rangers forever. There's nothing that can separate us."

"I guess you're right..." Jordan sighed. "Anyways, what are we supposed to be looking for?"

"Just look for anything out of the ordinary. Maybe a tree with a mark on it, footprints, broken branches, just anything that shouldn't be there."

"This is some hard work." Jordan said as he wiped sweat off his forehead.

* * *

Emma and Emma couldn't manage to find anything.

"I give up. This is going nowhere." the younger Emma complained. "We're not finding anything!"

"I know this seems like a failed effort, but it's better to fail after trying than to fail without trying." the older Emma comforted her.

"This is terrifying. What if we find a dead body or something on the ground?"

"Don't worry, we won't find anything like that. I just know it."

"This area is pretty much clear." Emma Goodall said after going through the last of the bushes. "There's nothing of interest here. How about we just let the other Rangers do their work?"

"How are things going with Troy?" Emma Westbrook asked, trying to change the subject.

"Things are actually going pretty well. He said that we could go out sometime after we take care of the wyrms."

"That's good, I see you're making some progress."

"I'm making surprisingly good progress." Emma Goodall smiled. "I didn't know that he actually considered me like that."

"Well, there are certain surprises when it comes to relationships. You have to expect the unexpected."

* * *

"Hey, Troy, how about I check in this denser area?" Noah asked as he looked at a part of the forest that was very thick with trees.

"Alright, just don't go too far down and shout if you see anything strange." Troy reminded him.

"Will do." Noah said as he ran into the woods.

The dense woods were filled with things to look for. The ground was covered knee-deep in shrubbery and weeds. Noah was sure that if anything were hiding, it would be in there. He lowered himself as he saw something shine in the moonlight. As he got a closer look, he realized that it was fresh blood. His heart sunk as he realized what he had discovered.

"What the hell is this?" Noah asked, touching the blood.

In an instant, Noah was knocked to the ground by a tremendous force. His glasses and morpher fell off and flew quite a distance from him. Because he couldn't see clearly, he was unsure of where anything was.

"So, your nosy attitude has gotten you this far..." Morokei appeared in front of Noah.

"Who are you?" Noah asked quietly. Noah was about to yell but he felt Morokei's hand covering his mouth.

"Like I told your fellow Pink Ranger, I am your worse nightmare."

Noah widened his eyes when he realized that he was talking about Alli. That meant that the Dragon Priest must have done something with Alli.

"I'll let you in on a little secret. I killed the Pink Ranger...and I'll kill you, too!" Morokei laughed as he pulled his sword out and stabbed Noah in the chest.

When Morokei finished the job, he looked at Noah's bloody body and picked up the sword. He had already taken out two Rangers, even further weakening the bond they shared. He decided that taking the others out would be risky, so he teleported away and left Noah's body there for the rest of the team to discover.

* * *

"Noah!" Troy shouted. "Noah, where are you!?"

Troy shook his head and ran into the area of the woods that Noah said he would explore. Troy had a look around, but couldn't see anything clearly with all the foliage. Troy bent over when he felt he stepped on something. He could see that Noah's glasses were on the ground and that his morpher wasn't much farther away.

"What the...?" Troy asked.

He looked a bit further and saw the horrifying sight. Noah Carver, the Blue Megaforce Ranger, was bloody and dead on the ground.

"Holy shit!" Troy exclaimed in shock. He pulled out his morpher and dialed the others. "Guys! We have an emergency! Noah is dead!"


	47. Morokei

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

When Troy signaled the alert into his morpher, the other Rangers instantly appeared on the scene. There were gasps and even trembles from everyone. The whole group turned to look at Jake, who looked stone-pale.

"Noah!" Jake Holling exclaimed as he kneeled by his best friend. "No! Don't tell me this is real!"

"I'm sorry, Jake." Gia placed her hand on his shoulder. "Noah was a great kid."

"He didn't deserve to go like this!"

"Who did this to him?" Troy asked. "There _has _to be someone else out here. Maybe whoever killed Noah had something to do with Alli."

"Noah's dead and all you care about is the damn mystery!? Come on, man!" Jake shouted. "I'm looking at the corpse of my best friend here!"

"Jake, you have to calm down." Ryleigh comforted him. "This isn't the way to deal with this."

"But who's going to tell his parents? Who's going to alert the authorities? Who's going to do anything? There's a dead teenager here!"

"Jake, please, I'll handle all of that. You just stay calm. I understand that we're looking at your dead best friend here, but by getting excited you're only making the matter worse."

"Fine..." Jake sighed as he looked to Noah. "I'm gonna miss you, man. You were the single coolest guy in the world. I hope you're havin' fun wherever you are right now and remember not to forget me." he finished as he choked back tears.

"Hold up, guys." Emma Westbrook smelt the air. "There's something familiar here. I...I've smelled it before."

"What are you talking about?" Ryleigh asked.

"It's...it's there! I know it!"

Emma's answer was confirmed as there was a huge thud and then the ground shook. The Rangers looked around to see what happened, but nothing could be seen.

"What was that?" Ryleigh asked.

"It's him!" Emma shouted as Morokei teleported in between all of the Rangers.

"Hello, Power Rangers." Morokei hissed. "I see you have discovered my piece of art." he pointed to Noah. "What do you think of it?"

"What do I think of it!?" Jake asked. "I'll show you what I think of it!" he excaimed as he made a fist.

"Jake, chill out!" Gia held him back.

"Fighting me isn't the best option, look where it got your two friends." Morokei stated.

"Two?" the Rangers asked.

"Lookie here!" Morokei exclaimed as he poofed Alli's dead body next to Noah's.

"Alli!" Chase ran over to his dead girlfriend. "This can't be you! It's not you!"

The Rangers stepped back in shock. Seeing two dead Rangers next to each other was too much to handle.

"You're an asshole!" Chase roared. "I'll kill you with my bare hands! It's morphin' time!"

Chase morphed into his Ranger suit and lunged at Morokei. Morokei tried slashing Chase with his sword, but Chase's suit blocked the blade. When Morokei tried swining at Chase a second time, Chase grabbed the sword straight out of Morokei's hand.

"It looks like we have a turn of events, here." Chase said as he held to sword to Morokei.

"What are you going to do to me?" Morokei asked sarcastically. "Are you going to cut me!"

"It's morphin' time!" the other Rangers chanted in unison.

The Rangers all ran at him together and tackled him to the ground. They struggled their way to hold the Dragon Priest down. No matter what, they would be sure to make his death long and painful. Morokei, however, was stronger than all of them and managed to throw them all off. He shook dust off his body as he looked at the large group of Rangers.

"This is a losing battle." Morokei realized. "No matter, I will take my business elsewhere. Feim zii!" he vanished into thin air.

Chase unmorphed and knelt by Alli's body. The sight of her stab wounds stung Chase's memory. He tried his best not to drop any tears, but he couldn't hold back. Alli was worth all of his tears.

"How could you go like this? I'll do _anything _to bring you back to life..." he pleaded by her body. "I loved you. We weren't together for so long, but I knew we had something. I can't believe you're actually dead."

The Rangers cringed when Chase wailed. They were all friends with Noah and Alli and knew they didn't deserve to die like this. They would bring Morokei to justice, and they would do it quickly.

"I promise I'll kill him for you." Chase whispered into his girlfriend's ear. "You'll be avenged. I'll kill him with my own hands. You have my word."

* * *

**==Kangchenjunga, Sikkim, India==**

Dukaan finally made it to the peak of Kangchenjunga, the home of the dragons. He knew what his goal was and he was not ready to fail. He knew from previous other Dragon Priest failures that a failure would result in demotion and possible wyrm prison time.

Dukaan had heard about Morokei's success in Palisade and wanted to top it by slaying the Dovahkiin. If he managed to get the job done, Exo would surely promote him to second-in-command. The spot had been vacant after Sutekh's death in northern Russia, and Dukaan had his sights set on it. He could see himselt sitting on the throne.

"Dovahkiin..." Dukaan hissed as he saw Raylan practice tai-chi on the mountain peak. He made himself visible and lunged at Raylan.

"Dragon Priest!" Raylan exclaimed as he roll-dodged Dukaan's attack. "It's morphin' time!" he shouted as his Ranger suit took presence around him.

"Dovahkiin, meet your death!" Dukaan threatened.

Raylan let out a battle cry and went straight for Dukaan's legs. He tackled the Dragon Priest and landed on top of him. Dukaan rolled over and threw Raylan off.

"You don't go down easy, do you?" Raylan asked. "No matter, you'll just be a slight challenge."

Raylan lunged at Dukaan again and knocked the Dragon Priest to the icy ground. He took his hand and shoved Dukaan's head into the ice.

"Yeah, eat that ice!" Raylan taunted. "Fo krah diin!" Raylan roared, coating the Dragon Priest in a case of ice.

"No!" Dukaan exclaimed.

Raylan sent his foot into Dukaan's chest. The Dragon Priest heaved in pain as Raylan landed another kick on him.

"Why don't you just die?" Raylan asked. "As it is, you're just a small annoyance."

"Yol toor shul!" Dukaan shouted, melting the ice off his body.

Dukaan got up and walked slowly over to Raylan. He punched Raylan in the chest and sent the Ranger flying.

"Now you're at _my _mercy." Dukaan taunted. "It's time to finish you!"

"Oh no it's not!" a deep voice bellowed as it ripped the top half of Dukaan's body off.

Raylan looked up in surprise and appreciation as Odahviing carried the top of Dukaan's body and slowly devoured it.

"Damn, what would I do without you?" Raylan asked his dragon.

"It's no problem, I just didn't know that they were that easy to kill."

"Yeah, I was just hoping I'd be able to take his mask off as a tropy. But, well, he's your kill now. Oh, and thanks for the last minute save. I really thought I was going to have my head chopped off."

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

The Rangers decided to pose Ryleigh as a jogger who discovered the bodies of Alli and Noah. A few other Rangers, including Jake, Gia, and Chase, were brought in as witnesses to Ryleigh's discover. That way, they would have their identities secret and give the dead Rangers the burial they needed.

"I fucking _hate _my life!" Chase shouted as he punched the wall.

An officer walked over to Chase and pulled him back. "Sir, we're going to have to kindly ask you to refrain from punching the wall."

"Go away!" Chase yelled at the officer.

"Okay..." the officer whimpered out of intimidation.

"This is bullshit." Chase mumbled to himself. "Fuck everything."

Back over in the interview room, Ryleigh was talking to the cops. Fortunately, they bought her story since everything added up. After a while of interviewing and looking at data, they concluded that

"Yes, I was jogging through the small clearing in the woods when I found them." Ryleigh told the interviewer.

"So you're saying that you just found them lying there with massive stab wounds?" the interviewer asked.

"Yeah, I was freaked to the bone."

"Mhmm. Well, thank you for your time. I guess that's all we really need from you. It was great talking to you." the interviewer shook Ryleigh's hand.

"No problem." Ryleigh nodded.

Both parents of Alli were at the station waiting patiently outside the room. Noah's parents were called and notified and would arrive in Palisade later in the night by flight. Mrs. Matthews was bawling on the shoulder of her husband, who was trying to choke back tears to hold his wife together. He wanted to let it all out as well, but having two messes in one room would be bad for the authorities.

"Honey, we'll find out who did this." Mr. Matthews kissed his wife on the forehead.

"Our very own daughter is..." Mrs. Matthews couldn't finish her sentence.

"I know, and we'll bring the killer to justice. It wasn't just our daughter who died."

"This can't be real. Maybe the found the wrong girl."

"They let us look at the body." Mr. Matthews reminded his wife. "Please, just stay strong right now. You know that Alli wouldn't like us to be so broken."

Deep within the shadows of the police station, Morokei was invisible and watching everything unfold. He smirked to himself as he realized that he was such a success. The Rangers were breaking apart and it was his own doing.

"I am such a good person." Morokei mumbled to himself. "Exo will give me the praise and respect that I always deserved."

Morokei looked at Chase break down against the wall. The Red Ranger was the most powerful of the squad and having him down to his weakes level was great for his mission.

"I can't just stand here and watch this." Morokei said. "There are still more Rangers I need to scourge out."

* * *

**==Underground Temple, Saudi Arabia==**

Exo sat on his throne and awaited word on the exploits of the Dragon Priest trio that he sent out. He finally got the relief he wanted when one of his servants walked through the door.

"Exo, I have the report for today!" the servant broke in.

"Finally! I have been waiting for so long! So, tell me." Exo said.

"First, we have learned that Dukaan was slain."

"Bloody fool..." Exo mumbled.

"He was no match for the Dovahkiin and the dragons who picked at him like he was nothing."

"What next?"

"Volsung hasn't been up to much as of now. He has killed a few humans he mistook for Rangers, but a kill is a kill."

"I'll take it. What about Morokei?"

"Oh, you'll like this." the servant smirked. "Morokei has already killed two Rangers and is onto his third."

"Very good!" Exo laughed. "It took all my Dragon Priests, but Morokei is finally doing what we needed to do for a long time. Which Ranger is he trying to go after?"

"He wouldn't say, but he was near the residence of an older Ranger. My guess is that he will tell us when his job is done."

"Good." Exo clasped his hands. "I await word on what he does."


	48. Massacre

_Before I let you read this chapter, I have to ramble about a few things._

_First off, college has started so the updates will be really random. I promise, though, that my updates won't be more than a week apart._

_My second ramble comes at the end of the story._

_Anyways, on with the chapter!_

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Chase knew it was probably the worst decision in the world, but he knew what he had to do. Morokei was still out there somewhere, and Chase knew how to lure him in. By going back to where he killed Noah and Alli by himself, he was sure to draw out the Dragon Priest.

He made his way through the grove in the forest where Troy discovered Noah's body and just waited. He knew if he was there long enough, Morokei would eventually show himself.

"I'm right here! I know you're coming for me!" Chase shouted to the woods. "Come at me if you have the guts!"

Initially, there was no response from Morokei. Chase stayed patient and waited on a boulder. He turned around rapidly when he heard rustling in the bushes behind him.

"Come on out! I hear you!" Chase challenged.

Morokei appeared in front of Chase. "Wow, I never knew that you humans would put yourselves out like that. No matter, you should be a rather easy kill."

"It's morphin' time!" Chase shouted as his suit wrapped around him.

"Very well, Red Ranger. Let us commence this fight." Morokei replied.

Chase punched Morokei in the face and then spin-kicked him in the gut. Morokei stumbled backwards and then fired a small ball of lightning at Chase. The arcane lightning hit Chase and blew him off his feet.

"That was painful, but not painful enough!" Chase exclaimed. He got back up and ran at Morokei.

"Why do you humans think you're so powerful?" Morokei asked as he dodged Chase's attack.

"Why did you kill Alli?" Chase asked as he engaged in a fistfight with the Dragon Priest.

"Because she was a Power Ranger, of course." Morokei answered.

"But why her? What did you have against her?"

"Does it look like I care that she died? Big whoop that it happened to be her. Move on with your life."

"No!" Chase shouted as he slammed Morokei in the gut.

Morokei staggered backwards and lurched over. He looked at Chase and roared in anger.

"You humans are foolish!" Morokei laughed. "I'll finish you easily!" he shouted as he fired another ball of lightning at Chase.

"I'll take it..." Chase mumbled as he weighed his options.

He wanted to be with his girlfriend, wherever she was. This attack by Morokei would surely take him there.

* * *

Kenzie and Jake Fernandez were at the Java House trying to think about what could have happened to Alli to get her killed. If the team wanted to heal, it would require all of them to show their strong points and throw in their minds at the time of severe loss. It was still a bit too early to digest food, however, so the two just sat at a table and thought about the situation.

"I can't believe that she's actually gone." Kenzie muttered.

"Hey, what if she's still alive?" Jake asked.

"We saw the body. She's _definitely _dead."

"But, she was such a nice girl. She didn't deserve to go down like that."

"That's what we all said." Kenzie agreed. "And if we don't put an end to this, then we'll all be next. What we're dealing with is ruthless. It will take all of our help to defeat."

Suddenly, Kenzie's phone vibrated. She pulled out her phone and read the text from Chase.

"He's crazy!" she exclaimed to Jake as she read the text that Chase sent her.

"What did he say?" Jake asked.

"He says that he's going back to the forest to confront the wyrms. He wants to avenge Alli or something."

"He's going to get himself killed!" Jake realized. "We have to stop him!"

"Wow, I totally didn't think of that..." Kenzie replied sarcastically. "Let's get out there!" she explained as she stood up.

"We can't just go there, though." Jake held Kenzie back. "We'll be dead meat for sure."

"It's better if it's us than him. He's the leader of our team and we're just his subordinates, we have to give our life for him."

"But..."

"Chase has given up so much for me and now it's my turn to take a sacrifice for him. Let's get out there and stop him from getting himself killed."

"Fine." Jake sighed. "But if we die, then you owe me the legal currency of wherever the hell we're sent to."

"I'll take that bet."

* * *

**==Smalltown, California, United States==**

Shane rang the gate doorbell as Sydney's lavish mansion. The income she earned from taking roles in movies was large and practically paid for itself. Sydney was able to buy herself a mansion in no time.

"Who is this?" one of her butler's voices said through the intercom.

"Shane Johnson. Sydney told me to come down earlier." Shane said into he mic.

"I do remember her mentioning her name. We will open the gate right away."

Shane sighed as he watched her gate open up. He felt like he needed serious relationship help after walking in on his wife and some other guy doing the dirty. He walked through the driveway and knocked on the door.

Sydney opened it up in her pyjamas. "Oh, Shane! I totally forgot you were coming!" she exclaimed. "Let me go change or something..."

"No, it's fine, I just need to talk to someone right now."

"Oh, come on in, then." Sydney said as she led him into the house. She sat him down on a couch and put her hand on his shoulder. "So, tell me what happened between you two."

"Like I told you, I just walked straight in on her cheating on me. It was horrible." Shane mumbled. "I don't even like talking about this."

"Shane, it's okay. It's better that you talk about this than keep this repressed. That way you can have support from other people."

"What do you think I should do?"

"I mean, I'm horribly against divorce, but I see no other choice." Sydney answered. "That's the only way that you two can go your separate ways."

"But, I love her." Shane teared up. "She's my everything."

"No, she _was _your everything." Sydney reassured him. "If she thought some other guy was much better than you, then she doesn't deserve your time."

"I guess you're right. It doesn't sound right, but I think I'm going to move on without her."

"Good, that should get you out of her life..." Sydney said. "...and into mine." she whispered to herself.

"What did you just say?" Shane asked.

"That...uhh...that you should remove yourself from...uhh...her life." Sydney stammered.

"No, I mean after that. I thought you just said-"

"Nothing! I didn't say anything!"

"You...you just said that...do you love me?" Shane asked.

Sydney closed her eyes and braced herself for embarrassment. "Yes, I just said that. Shane, I am in freaking love with you! Susanna was never right for you! I admit it! I love you!"

"I...I don't know what to say."

Sydney didn't let him even think of what to say as she kissed him passionately on the lips. Shane was shocked at first, but ended up returning the gesture. They stayed like that until one of her butlers accidentally walked in on her.

"Miss Evans, would you like-" the butler said before he realized what he saw. "Oh dear, I should come back later."

Shane and Sydney separated and looked at each other in embarrassment.

"Umm..." Shane scratched his head.

"Just tell me when I should be back." the butler said as he walked out.

"That was really...awkward." Sydney chuckled.

"Oh, who the hell cares?" Shane asked as he pulled Sydney in for another kiss.

"Ranger love, how pathetic!" they heard a raspy voice exclaim from the room.

"What was that?" Sydney asked as she looked around the living room.

"Must have been our imaginations." Shane brushed it off as he went in for another kiss.

"Oh, it wasn't your imagination..." the voice said again. "This is as real as it gets."

"Okay, Shane, I'm really freaked out right now!" Sydney squealed as she pulled into him.

"_Sweet_..." Shane said to himself. "I mean...uhh...oh no!"

Volsung appeared in the living room and separated Shane and Sydney.

"What the hell is that!?" Sydney shouted as she got into a defensive stance.

"Don't worry, I got this." Shane smirked.

"It's morphin' time!" they both shouted as they morphed into their suits.

"I _finally _got the Power Rangers this time!" Volsung exclaimed.

Shane and Sydney ran at Volsung from two opposite directions but the Dragon Priest levitated to avoid the attack, causing the Rangers to run into each other. They shook off the impact and looked up to the Dragon Priest who was in midair.

"You cannot defeat me!" Volsung taunted them as he shot a ball of fire at each Ranger.

"Ow, that hurt like hell!" Shane staggered as he felt the attack burn through his body.

"Tell me about it!" Sydney agreed. "That was awful!"

"Do you want more?" Volsung asked. "Too late, you're gettin so much more!"

Volsung shot more fireballs at each Ranger and watched them writhe in pain until they finally unmorphed. Then, he shot a fireball straight at a defenseless Shane, who started to burn.

"AGH! HELP ME!" Shane shouted as the fire consumed his body.

"NO!" Sydney exclaimed as she watched the fire sucked the remaining life out of Shane. "You killed him! You fucking killed him!"

"Yes, that was my goal." Volsung said.

"And now I'll kill you!" Sydney growled and leaped on top of the Dragon Priest. She punched and clawed at him until she as able to tear into his 'flesh'. When she got deep enough, she ripped his heart out and watched him die.

She got off of Volsung's body and moved over to Shane's.

"No...I loved ...this isn't fair. This isn't fair!"

* * *

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

Jake and Kenzie ran into the woods where Chase said he would be. They searched and searched endlessly for him but hit a roadblock when they made no leads.

"What if he's not even here?" Jake asked. "For all we know, he might have just _considered _coming out here."

"No, I know he's here! He's the type of person go out and do something as ballsy as that."

They both jolted as they heard the soft sound of breathing. They followed the sound together and found a badly damaged Chase lying on the ground.

"Oh my gosh, what happened to you!?" Kenzie asked as she kneeled by him. "Who did this?"

"No, Kenzie, you have to get out of here..." Chase whispered. "He's here...and he wants more..."

"What are you talking about?" Jake asked. "I don't see anyth-"

Jake wasn't allowed to finish as a sword went straight through his back and came out from his stomach. He fell lifelessly onto the ground.

"JAKE! OH MY GOSH!" Kenzie exclaimed as she saw Morokei stand over Jake's dead body.

"You humans have not learned your lesson." Morokei said. "I will finish you guys...and then the rest of your pathetic race!"

"I won't let you do that!" Kenzie exclaimed.

"Says who?" Morokei asked.

He picked Kenzie up by her throat and threw her against a tree. He slowly crept over to her and held the sword over her.

"It's time to end this!"

"You can't do that!" Chase ran up to Morokei and knocked him down.

"Red Ranger..." Morokei grumbled.

"Chase, don't try to fight him!" Kenzie warned him.

"You!" Morokei turned to Kenzie. "Shut up!" he slashed his sword through her body.

'KENZIE!" Chase shouted out. "GRAH!"

Chase leaped onto Morokei in a rage, but the Dragon Priest vanished into thin air. Chase looked at the carnage around him. Not only had he lost four friends, two of them were the most important people in his life. He broke down and cried everything he had left out.

* * *

**==Kangchenjunga, Sikkim, India==**

Raylan fell to the icy ground and felt something pierce through his body. Everything felt weaker to him. The world started to black out all around him.

"What's happening to me?"

* * *

_Continuing on with my ramble, this chapter was emotionally draining to write. I know this will be extremely hard for you guys to read, but it was part of my outline. I hope you guys had as much fun with some of the characters in this story as I did because some shit goes down._

_While it was terrible to write, I hope you really enjoyed it._

_And as always, **DROPPIN' A REVIEW NEVER HURT**_** :)**


	49. Stasis

**==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==**

"Chief, we have one more double homicide case!" a female police officer told her her chief after hanging up the phone.

"Another one? Does the description match up with the previous double homicide?" the chief asked as he walked over to his officer's computer.

"Yes, the person who called in said that it was exactly the same situation."

"Oh my..." the chief sighed. "Give me the description."

"The first body is of a teenage male who was found with a large stab wound. The second body was a teenage female and was found only a few feet nearby. The caller said that she was sliced right in half."

"Who was the person who called in?"

"He said that his name was Chase Vereen, sir. He is a friend of the victims and he said that he was also viciously attacked."

"Bring him in for questioning. We need to know what the hell is going on." the chief demanded.

"Sir, he was also friends with the two teenagers killed in the previous double homicide case."

"Hm, we ruled him out as a suspect. There was absolutely no evidence that could have said he did it."

"Perhaps there's someone after him." the female officer suggested.

"You may be onto something, but why him? And why teenagers?"

"Could this be just a high school killer spree? A teenage rapist of sorts?"

"No, based on the mind of a serial killer, they wouldn't make their kills so brutal, especially with multiple people around. It would be easy for them to be taken down." the chief said. "Think of all the teenagers that could have a possible hate wave against them."

"Hold on a minute!" the female officer realized. "These teenagers fit the description of...of..."

"Come on, out with it!"

"The Power Rangers!" the officer exclaimed.

"Good grief. If they're dead, then who's protecting the city?"

"Maybe the caller is also a Power Ranger. We could get some tips from him."

"That seems plausible. Like I said, bring him in and we'll send him home with private protection." the chief concluded.

"Yes, sir."

* * *

**==Smalltown, California, United States==**

The emergency vehicles came to Sydney's house as fast as they could. When things settled down, one of the butler's who witnessed the fight called it down as fast as possible.

Sydney, on the other hand, was a mess. She sulked on a chair as she thought about everything that happened. She had waited so long to finally be with Shane, and when the time came, she lost him. It was hard for her to even think straight.

"Would you like a glass of water?" a butler asked her.

"No, thanks. I think I just want to be left alone for a little bit." she sobbed.

"Very well, then." the butler walked away.

Shane's charred body was still intact on the floor where Volsung left it. The police insructed Sydney not to touch it as it was still labeled as a crime scene, two words that Sydney never wanted to hear her own house described as.

A police officer walked into the house and found his way to Sydney. "Can you tell me exactly what happened?" he asked her.

"I...he...there...a monster came in here and attacked him..." Sydney explained.

"A monster?" the officer asked sarcastically. "Really, you expect me to believe that?"

"Y-y-yeah. Don't you believe me?"

"You're a psycho. You deserve to be locked up forever." the officer handcuffed Sydney.

"No, what are you doing?" she asked. "Let me go! I didn't do anything!"

Another officer walked in and tapped the first officer on the back. "I don't think she's kidding." he said.

"What are you talking about?" the first officer asked.

"There were a few more cases of this in the city. Witnesses say a monster just comes and incinerates whoever is in its path."

The first officer narrowed his eyes at Sydney and unlocked her cuff. She wiggled her hands at the sweet feeling of freedom.

"I'll let you off the hook, this time..." the first officer snarled.

"But, we still have a murderer on the loose." the second officer reminded him.

"No, he's dead." Sydney said. "I killed him in the process."

Both officers leaned behind the sofa and saw the disfigured body of Volsung. They sighed with relief and patted Sydney on the back.

"Well, you've done us a big favor today. Take it easy." the first officer said as he left the house.

"You've done good, Miss Evans. I look forward to seeing you in your new movie next month." the second officer said.

When the police were gone, Sydney broke down on the couch. It was bad enough that she lost a friend to a vile monster, it was even worse that the friend happened to be a love interest.

* * *

**==Palisade, California, United States==**

Chase tensed up as he was in the interview room. The two interviewers didn't have much to suspect Chase for, but things were still heated up with Power Rangers dropping dead everywhere.

"So, kid, we're going to ask you a question, and you _have _to be honest." the male interviewer said.

"I didn't kill them!" Chase raised his arms in defense.

"Listen, we know you didn't kill them, the evidence doesn't add up to that." the female interviewer calmed him down. "We just want to know if you're a..."

"If I'm a what?"

"A...Power Ranger." both interviewers said in unison.

"No, why would I be a Power Ranger?" Chase asked with a hint of stress in his voice.

"Because you match the description of one of them. I can't quite pin which one you are, but I can tell that you're one." the female interviewer said.

Chase took a deep breath and sighed. "Yes, I'm a Power Ranger, what more do you want from me?"

"Nothing. We're all done here. Good night." the male interviewer said.

"Wait, you call me in here after two of my friends, my best friend, and my girlfriend die, you tell me that I could possibly be a suspect, you dig up the biggest secret in my life, and then you ask me to leave? What the hell!?" Chase exclaimed.

"We just wanted to know whether a monster is behind this."

"Well, no shit there's a monster behind it! And what more do you want? It's not like you guys can do anything about it."

"We just wanted to send you home with protection." the female officer reassured him.

"I'm more protection for myself than your entire police force. Thank you for the officer but no thank you. I have better things to do, like grieve over my dead friends." Chase said as he stormed out.

"Well, that went well." the male interviewer sighed.

"Stupid teenagers." the second interviewer agreed. "They think they run the world."

* * *

Ryleigh and Johnny were in their house trying to cook something up for Alissa. Since she was teething quite well, the pediatrician told them that she could be fed prepared food.

"What do you think she'll like?" Ryleigh asked as she sorted through her cabinet of canned foods.

"I'd go with the boiled carrots." Johnny held up an orange can of carrots.

"And what makes you think that?"

"They're soft, flavorless, and healthy! What more could a kid want?"

Ryleigh shook her head and chuckled. "You know, I really like things around here with you. It's just not the same when you're on tour."

"Aren't I the best?" Johnny smiled.

"Yeah, you are the best..." Ryleigh muttered.

Johnny's smile faded as he saw his wife's face. "Why the long face? Isn't everything alright?"

"Yeah, it's just that with all this carnage, there's so much pressure to be felt."

"What do you mean?"

"Rangers are dying and yet we have no time to feel remorse. Things are flying by so quickly that we don't even know what to feel or how to be able to feel at all. We just lost Alli, Noah, Kenzie, Jake, and now I hear that Shane was killed, too!"

"Shane's dead?" Johnny's face turned pale.

"Yes! He's dead! And do you know what that means?"

"No?"

"It means that any of us could be next." Ryleigh whispered. "And the last thing I'd want is for our kid to lose one of us."

"That won't be the case." Johnny pulled Ryleigh in for a hug. "I won't let any monster take you or her away from my life."

"But what if he takes you?" Ryleigh sobbed. "I'd be broken..."

"He won't take me. He won't take any of us. He won't take any Ranger anymore. We'll stop him, that's what I promise."

"Really?" Ryleigh's eyes beamed. "You'd make sure of it?"

"Of course I would." Johnny kissed her on the forehead. "Now come on, we have a daughter to take of."

* * *

Chase and Troy found themselves in a section of the woods that was near Ryleigh's house. Like Chase, Troy wanted to avenge the deaths of his friends. However, he wasn't as crazed about it as Chase was.

"So this is where you think he'll be?" Troy asked.

"I'm sure of it. He only attacks when he knows that we're weak." Chase answered.

"So you're saying that if we appear weak, he'll come at us?"

"Correct. And that way, we can take him down together."

"That's not a bad idea." Troy agreed.

"It _is _a bad idea." Morokei's voice hissed.

"We know you're out there!" Chase shouted out. "Stop being a pansy and come fight us!"

Morokei poofed in front of the two and swung his sword at them. Luckily, the Red Rangers dodged in time to be able to roll away to safety.

"It's morphin' time!"

"Go, go, Megaforce!"

The Red Rangers morphed into their suits and ran at Morokei. As a tag team of powerful fighters, Troy and Chase were almost unstoppable. _Almost _unstoppable.

Morokei took advantage of the _almost _and struck Troy down in one blow. He groaned and unmorphed as the Dragon Priest approached him.

"So, what do we have here? Another dead Ranger?" Morokei taunted as he sent his sword through Troy.

"Troy!" Chase called out. "Not again!"

He lunged at Morokei and knocked him down. Morokei and Chase rolled on the ground for a bit trying to struggle for the power. Chase appeared to be winning.

"I'll kill you!" Chase threatened.

Just then, Ryleigh and Johnny rushed into the woods.

"What's going on here?" Ryleigh asked as she saw Chase tangled with Morokei.

"Ryleigh, over there, Troy's dead!" Johnny pointed to Troy's body.

Ryleigh lost her balance and held herself up against a tree. "I'm going to be sick..." she said.

Johnny growled and held up his morpher. "It's morphin' time!" he shouted, morphing into his classic Green suit.

He ran over to the wrestling match and pulled Morokei off of Chase. He landed a straight punch in Morokei's face and kicked him in the groin while he tried to retaliate.

"That's how you fight a dragon priest!" he smirked behind his mask.

Chase tackled Morokei from the back and held him on the ground. When Ryleigh gained a good level of consciousness, she also morphed and ran into the battle. With three Rangers, Morokei was practically dead by statistics. The tri-force was too powerful for one Dragon Priest.

"I won't have this!" Morokei exclaimed as he slashed all three Rangers.

Johnny was the most damaged and he unmorphed as he fell on the ground.

"Johnny!" Ryleigh called out to her husband.

"Boo-hoo!" Morokei taunted as he decapitated Johnny's head.

"JOHNNY!" Ryleigh shouted. "NO! STOP! PLEASE!"

A wild feral instinct within her showed its inner beast as she unleashed her full force on Morokei. She slammed him to the ground and painfully ripped his head off, finally ending his life. When Ryleigh was sure of what she had done, she slowly moved over to Johnny's body.

"Johnny..." she sniffled and fell on her knees.. "I loved you so much. I...I...I thought we would be together forever. You promised me so much. What...what about Alissa?"

The sound of Ryleigh loudly crying hit Chase in his heart. Both Rangers lost loved ones to the same Dragon Priest, with Ryleigh's being a tad more severe. He walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"It's over..." he told her as he kneeled by her. "It's...it's over. You did it. He won't kill again."

* * *

**==Kangchenjunga, Sikkim, India==**

There was a bright flash of light and the remaining twelve Rangers were instantly teleported to the frosty peak of Kangchenjunga. Confused and still saddened they looked around confused.

"Welcome..." a familiar voice echoed through the sky.

The Rangers looked up and saw that Raylan stood at the top of the peak. He appeared considerably weaker and had bruises all over his body.

"It appears that we have a problem, and we have to end it together."

* * *

_That was the most painful chapter to write. I'm sorry it had to come to something so drastic, but it was part of the outline. I promise that the story won't get any more brutal than that. That was pretty much the worst of it._

_And as always, **DROPPIN' A REVIEW NEVER HURT**** :)**_


	50. Don't Let Raylan Die

**==Kangchenjunga, Sikkim, India==**

The Rangers were still confused as to how they were at the peak of a Himalayan and how Raylan was there. They were instantly teleported after Troy's and Johnny's death, raising some suspicion.

"What's going on?" Chase asked as he stepped in front of the Rangers.

"Everything is falling apart..." Raylan groaned.

"Raylan! Are you okay?" Emma exclaimed before she ran over to him. "You look terrible!"

"I'm...I'm not okay..." Raylan breathed. In his state of condition, it was hard to speak.

"What happened to you?"

"My essence is dying."

"What do you mean?"

"You guys are dying, and with each death, I'm being torn from the inside." Raylan managed to say. When he finished speaking, two large bruises started to appear on his arm. The pain was too much for him to tolerate and he fell down.

"Oh my gosh!" Emma exclaimed. "What's wrong with you?"

"GRAH!" Raylan shouted. "IT BURNS!"

The other Rangers ran over to Raylan and tried to help him stand. He was too weak to make the effort to move his muscles by himself, so he ended up falling back down again.

"I can't do this..." he grunted.

"We've already lost too much, we can't let you go, too." Ryleigh told him. "You'll be fine."

"No he won't!" Jake Holling fired back at Ryleigh. "Face it, we're losing!"

"Keep your mouth shut!" Emma Goodall exclaimed. "You're just mad that Noah died!"

"Shut up, I'll have you know that Troy's dead, too!"

"Troy...?" Emma's face turned stone cold.

"Please don't fight..." Nick mumbled to himself.

The team was falling apart. The Rangers started shouting insults at each other, despite the fact that they all knew everything they said was pointless. It seemed like a hopeless battle.

"This is no way to be acting." Raylan told his wife, who was rubbing his wounds. "We're going nowhere with this kind of attitude."

"I love you so much..." Emma whispered to him. "I'm not going to let this kill you."

"Say something..." Raylan barely managed to say.

Emma took a deep breath and stood up. "Everyone, be quiet!" her voice boomed. Everyone silenced.

"Is this any way to behave?" she asked the Rangers. "The fate of the human race rests in our hands and we're just standing here bickering about senseless garbage? Sure, we lost a few lives, but that can't stop us. We have no choice to continue fighting! While we're running our mouths trying to piss each other off, Exo is probably running his army through the rest of the world!"

"I...I agree." Ryleigh finally stated. "If we want to win, we have to act like winners. I know that we all lost people extremely important to us, but we have to put the past behind us. It's the future that we have to think about."

"I get that, but how do we get out of here?" Chase asked. "There's no one here."

"There _is _no one here..." Raylan whimpered. "No one but dragons..."

"Dragons?"

At the sound of the word, Odahviing and Paarthurnax hovered over the group of the Rangers. To their shock and surprise, the dragons landed behind Raylan.

"The Dovahkiin is hurting." Paarthurnax announced.

"Who's the Dovahkiin?" the Rangers asked.

"The human you call Raylan." Odahviing answered. "He controls the balance of the world, and if his life is lost, so will the rest of your race! Put aside your differences and fight for each other. The sake of your world depends on it!"

"Raylan...?" Emma asked. "Is that true?"

"It is." Raylan nodded weakly. "But I can't continue to fight at this condition. You're going to have to go out there without me."

"Go out where?"

"With his Dragon Priests gone, Exo is pursuing his first idea of a nuclear world takeover again. He has stations set up in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Lithuania, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. I want at least one Ranger in each country setting up a post with the rest in Palisade."

"What are we going to do there?" Chase asked. "It's not like we have a game plan."

"You guys don't, but I do." Raylan said. "You all just go focus on the defense and let me take care of the offense."

"You can count on us." Chase nodded. He turned back to the remaining Rangers and took a deep breath. "I'm guessing you expect me to give a battle speech, right?"

The Rangers nodded and waited for Chase to talk.

"Okay, here I go. Today, we go into the world as heroes. We go into the world with the idea that we're protectors, that we're defenders of the Earth. All of our friends, family, inspirations, schoolmates, colleagues, passer-bys, and any other loved ones are counting on us for help. We have to make the push to finish off the last of the wyrms, for the sake of our planet depends on it. If failure is not an option, success is guaranteed. Now let's get out there and win this fight!"

"For Alli!" the Rangers chanted.

"For Noah!"

"For Kenzie!"

"For Jake!"

"For Shane!"

"For Troy!"

"For Johnny!"

"For Raylan!"

And with that, the Rangers were teleported away.

"Now, what was that idea you had?" Raylan asked Paarthurnax.

"Odahviing will take you to Exo's base, where we are sure the word wall that you are looking for exists." Paarthurnax affirmed. "It should contain the words for the shout 'Call of Valor'. That should allow you to contact high powered spirits. If you find it, summon J and Isus."

"Where do you think it will be?" Raylan asked.

"He should have a highly protected room somewhere in the depths of his castle. When J had to fall back in battle a long time ago, Exo stole the word wall and sealed it near his library. I would start looking there." Paarthurnax said.

"Remember, you _cannot _be spotted or engage in battle until the Rangers have secured their posts." Odahviingu reminded Raylan. "You are far too frail to get yourself into any sort of battle."

"I won't, I promise." Raylan stated.

"Now pack your belongings, you have a mission to complete." Paarthurnax raised his head.

"Thank you, guys." Raylan nodded. "I'll get on it."

* * *

**==Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation==**

Ryleigh dropped from a height and crashed on a tiled floor. She got up and let her vision get adjusted to the place. She took notice of the metallic gadgets and technology in her surroundings.

"Where am I?" she asked herself.

Once she felt she had her vision back at a hundred percent, she started to look around for clues. Since everything there was in Cyrillic, she knew it would be impossible to understand the writing. She had to search for other visual clues.

That was until she saw a familiar symbol.

"The radioactivity symbol." she mumbled to herself as she took notice of the black shapes cast against the yellow background. "I must be in a nuclear plant."

Suddenly, a heavy weight tumbled on top of her and she fell on the ground. As she sprawled out in pain, the weight started to stir above her.

"Who are you?" Ryleigh asked, wincing.

"It's me!" a familiar voice answered.

"Tyler, is that you?"

"Yes, it's me." Tyler said as he managed to pull himself off of Ryleigh. "Where the hell are we?" he asked.

"We're in a Russian nuclear power plant." Ryleigh answered.

Tyler adjusted his glasses and took a good look around the place. "Wow, it looks like this plant has been inactive for a _really _long time."

"Thanks for pointing that out, captain obvious." Ryleigh replied sarcastically.

"Jeez, no need to be so snappy."

"Sorry, I just need to sort things out." Ryleigh sighed.

"What do you mean?" Tyler asked. Then he remembered what happened to Johnny. "Oh wait, never mind...sorry for asking..."

"It's okay." Ryleigh replied sadly. "I just have to accept that there are things outside of my control. I just want to know where Alissa is."

"I think Gadget-X took her."

"Oh, that's a relief, even though I feel terrible saying that."

"No, it's okay. Like you said, we have to put the past behind us if we want to reach the future."

"You're right. Let's start looking around. Raylan said that Exo wanted to harvest nuclear power or something."

"Yeah, we're supposed to be on guard in case he sends his pesky army here."

Ryleigh and Tyler walked around the plant looking for signs of destruction. To their surprise, the nuclear plant didn't look fully inactive. There were signs of recent use.

"Who was here?" Tyler asked as he saw the freshly painted controls on a switch.

Ryleigh nudged Tyler. "I don't think we're the only ones here." she said.

"What are you talking about?"

"Look for yourself!" Ryleigh exclaimed before she grabbed Tyler's shirt and turned him around to face the monster.

"You nosy humans..." Exo growled as he rushed at them.

* * *

**==Tashkent, Tashkent Province, Uzbekistan==**

Emma Westbrook's vision came back to her as she took recognition of her surroundings. She was by the road at the limits of a city. The road signs had unfamiliar text which she couldn't recognize.

"What the hell is this?" she asked.

She looked around for more road signs until she saw one with a little bit of English on it. She took notice of the word 'Tashkent' sprawled out on it in Roman lettering.

"Tashkent...why does that sound so familiar?" she thought to herself. "Wait a second, I'm in the capital city of Uzbekistan!"

She looked at the skyline of the city and started walking towards it. The one thing she needed the most was a good walk to think about the things that happened.

For starters, she didn't know how to feel about her husband. In the midst of the deaths of a large amount of Rangers, she was thankful that her husband was alive. However, he also looked like he was at the verge of death from causes that she did not know.

Also, she had no word on her daughter. She was teleported to the peak of the mountain without knowing what happened to Casey. While she was sure that Raylan found a way to get Casey to safety, it still worried her that she didn't know where she was.

Additionally, she finally got a glimpse of what he actually did. It showed her what happened behind the scenes and the things he did to make sure that the team was fully protected from wyrm attacks.

As she approached the city, she realized that she didn't know what to do. She didn't speak Uzbek, so there was no way she would be able to find her way around the city. Additionally, Raylan hadn't given her any instructions. She was going into the battlefield without any prior knowledge of her surroundings. Without even doing anything, she was already losing.

"What am I even doing?" she asked herself.

Then, she remembered that Raylan talked about some nuclear takeover. If she knew anything, it was that she had to find some sort of nuclear reactor. Based on what Raylan had told her, it would be where Exo was about to strike next.

She instantly pulled out her smartphone and started searching Google for an Uzbek translator. She knew that massive overseas charges would be applied to her cellphone bill, but anything was worth it to save the world.

After a painfully long walk, she finally reached the business district by herself. While she would never usually walk by herself, she had no other choice. She smiled when she finally saw two friendly looking females. She smiled and approached them.

"Yadroviy reaktori?" she asked them as basically as she could in a blatant American accent. It directly translated to 'nuclear reactor'.

"We speak English." one of the ladies chuckled in a thick accent.

"Oh, that's embarrassing, but do you know where one is?" Emma asked.

"There was an old one down south which was shut down a few months back. That's the only one I know of." the other lady said.

"Thank you very much!" Emma chirped.

She finally had some sense of place.


	51. Nukes

**==Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation==**

Exo launched Ryleigh and Tyler several feet apart as he ran into them. The two staggered to their feet and wiped the dust off of themselves. They looked at Exo and held their morphers out.

"It's morphin' time!" they both chanted, morphing into their Ranger suits.

"If you couldn't stand a chance against Morokei, what makes you think you can stand up to me?" Exo asked tauntingly. "I'll finish you two off."

"No you won't!" Ryleigh shouted, lunging into him.

Exo stumbled backwards and Tyler ran up behind him to kick him forwards. Ryleigh knocked his head with her elbow and kicked him to the ground.

"You're stronger than I thought." Exo said. "Stubborn humans, this won't be long."

"We're stronger than you." Tyler replied. "And smarter."

"We'll see how smart you are when you try to survive in maximum radiation!"

Exo levitated to a platform in the factory and grabbed onto a pedestal. He pressed a large red button on the center of a pedestal, sounding an alarm throughout the whole factory.

"Feim zii!" he finally shouted as he left the scene.

Tyler frantically looked around the area. "He's going to blow this place up!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, I think we know that. We should be more focused on finding a way out!" Ryleigh replied.

The two of them started to dart around the factory looking for any emergency exits, but everything seemed to be barred. Tyler tried to kick down a metal door, but the Russian government didn't want anybody to forcefully enter the factory and made it almost impervious to damage.

"Dyesyat, dyevyat, vosyem..." a robotic female voice started to count down from ten in Russian.

"It's gonna blow!" Ryleigh exclaimed.

"Brace for impact!" Tyler replied.

"Tree, dva..." the voice counted. "Adeen!" it finally reached one.

The entire nuclear plant was detonated in a blinding flash.

* * *

**==BN-350, Aktau, Kazakhstan==**

Gia fell hard on her back, but managed to be cushioned by something. After scratching the pain out of her head, she looked at the humanoid mass that lay under her.

"Jake?" she asked after recognizing his signature sweatshirt.

"Yeah." he choked his words and she finally got off him. "Thanks for getting off."

"Sorry." she dusted her clothes off. "Where the hell are we?"

Gia and Jake had a good look around the area. They were still shaken up after the deaths of their teammates and the fact that they were randomly being teleported from place to place. Wherever they were was eerily abandoned and sent chills down their spines. There was absolutely no noise anywhere in the building and dust was floating everywhere.

"You're asking me where we are?" Jake asked. "I'd be damned if I could even read these signs."

"It's a good thing we have at least one brain in this place." Gia fired back.

"What do you mean by that?"

Gia sighed and pointed to the large signs on the wall. It didn't take a degree in foreign languages to know what the yellow and black signs meant.

"I see hazard signs _everywhere_." Gia answered. "Take a look around, we're in a nuclear reactor."

"Is that a good thing?" Jake asked.

"Does a blaring yellow exclamation mark look like a good thing?" Gia facepalmed. "I'd do some looking around if I were you, we have work to do here."

"I can't read this foreign crap." Jake stated after examining the walls. "What the hell does this even mean?"

"I have some knowledge of Cyrillic." Gia walked over to the wall and read what Jake looked at.

She pointed to each character and squinted her eyes. Somewhere in her brain was a faint knowing of the Cyrillic writing, something she learned from her short trip to Ukraine weeks back when they were doing foreign touring.

"What does it say?" Jake asked.

"BH-bіr ekі zero." Gia answered.

"Does it look like I know what that means?"

"Stop being so snappy. It translates roughly to BN-350."

"I'm the one who's snappy? You're the one-"

"Shut it." Gia threatened. "Let's just get out of here."

Jake quietly followed Gia through an unlit hallway which was falling into disrepair. They knew that the place hadn't been used for at least a few years, and they intended to keep it that way. Messing with a place like a nuclear reactor could result in death, and they weren't prepared to face anything like that.

Gia slowly led Jake to a door at the end of the hallway. She crept in front of it and gently turned the doorknob to look at what was on the other side. All that was heard afterwards was a roar and a blinding flash was emitted.

* * *

**==Frozen hut in the Moldovan wilderness==**

Chase opened his eyes suddenly and found himself lying on an icy floor in a wooden lodge. As his sight started coming back to him, he recognized Sydney was passed out right in front of him. He kneeled by her and shook her awake.

"You need to wake up!" Chase yelled in her ear.

"What's going on?" Sydney groaned as she managed to pull herself off the ground. "And why is it so cold in here?"

"I...I really have no idea. But it is _really _cold in here." Chase started to rub his arms to warm up.

"And _where _are we?" she asked.

"I wish I knew, but it looks like we're going to have to find out on our own."

Chase braced through the bitter cold and looked around the frozen room. The first thing he observed was that it looked like he was in a basement. He also noticed that there were wooden crates stacked against the walls. The last thing he noticed was a wooden door barred by a steel plank.

"I think we should look through these boxes." Sydney suggested. "There's no sense trying to open the door, it's sealed shut."

"Good idea." Chase agreed. "You take the boxes to our left and I'll get the ones to the right."

Sydney nodded and started digging through the crates. She found nothing of interest other than old documents and creepy pictures from years ago.

"How's your search going?" she asked Chase from across the room.

"It's not going great. All I can find are useless papers that I can't seem to read." Chase answered. "How about yours?"

"I think I'm finding the same crap that you are."

Chase and Sydney kept digging through the boxes and seemed to hit a dead end. Everything they dug through was almost identical, not providing any information on where they were or what they were supposed to do.

"So...I'm sorry about Alli..." Sydney finally broke the silence.

"It's..." Chase tried to talk. It was hard trying to speak about something so delicate. "It's...it's...really hard for me. I know I'm only in high school, but I've never felt so passionate about someone before. You know what I mean?"

"Oh, I know exactly what you mean." Sydney replied. "I haven't told many people this, but I had a thing for Shane." she confessed. "I knew he was married and all, but I stayed single for a reason. All those paparazzi could start whatever the hell they wanted about me, I just wanted Shane."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"I was with him the day he died. I actually watched him die."

"I...I can feel your pain. I know what it feels like to have someone you love go away like that."

"I know that you know, that's why I'm talking to you. I want to know if you're okay. I want to know if it's possible to move past it."

"I guess you can put it that way." Chase sighed. "It's really hard to move past it, but it's something that people have to do."

"How so?"

"I have to look at it from the perspective of someone trying to get stronger through this. I can't dwell in the past. What's happened has happened, and there's no changing it. If I want things to go smoother, I have to forget about everything. Now, that doesn't mean I'll ever forget about Alli, it just means that I'll have to forget about the grief I felt."

"That's...that's great advice." Sydney barely smiled. "I guess I have to take after that."

"Anyways, we should keep looking."

* * *

**==Somewhere in Uzbekistan==**

Emma finally spotted a large metal building far in the distance. She could see the blatant hazard signs around the area and immediately identified it as a nuclear reactor. She took a deep breath and walked towards the eerily abandoned nuclear plant.

Since Uzbekistan was granted freedom from the Soviet Union in 1991, all nuclear operations in the area were halted. However, the government secretly kept the reactors up in case such massive power was ever needed in the future. As a result, the wyrms were able to find out about it and put it to use without the government's knowledge.

Once Emma reached the gates of the reactor, she knew she would have to stop there. There would be no possible way of entering without sounding off some sort of alarm, so she had to break in. She didn't want to morph as her morpher would emit some sort of energy which would exert force on whatever security system was outside of the reactor.

She spotted a long and broken cable to her side and picked up an end with a plug on it. She took the plug and shoved it into a rock that was lying nearby. Once she had her tool made, she threw as much as possible of it onto a small spire to the side of the reactor. She climbed up the cable until she was finally able to reach the top.

At the top of the spire, the nuclear reactor was easily accessible. All she had to do was pull the cable up one last time, hurl it against a weak looking wall, and hope that it would manage to break through. Hoping for the best, she threw her cable at the reactor, tearing a small hole open. The cable extended out, creating some sort of wire leading inside. She picked up a small amount of scrap metal that was lying on top of the spire and formed a small triangle out of it. Once she had it looped around her cable, she held onto it and zip-lined her way inside.

She lost her grip of the metal triangle and fell. Fortunately, she was far inside the reactor, making her fall somewhat worthwhile. When she came to her senses, she had a good look around the area. The place was falling into massive disrepair, meaning that she wouldn't be able to find anything useful inside.

"You've come for us." she heard raspy voices whisper.

"Who's there?" she cried out. "Show yourself!"

"You can't see us..." the voices answered.

"Then what are you?"

"Us? We're only the bane of your existence. We have you surrounded. Give up, already."

* * *

**==Underground Temple, Saudi Arabia==**

Odahviing landed Raylan outside the hole in the middle of the desert that led into the temple. He knew from that point he would have to be the one fighting his own battles.

"Thanks for the ride, bud." Raylan patted Odahviing's head.

"It is no problem, Dovahkiin. I must leave now, but I wish you the best of luck." the dragon replied as he flew away.

Raylan sighed and jumped into the hole. Everything from that point on would be a risk. He was in no shape to fight anything, so he would have to go undetected.

This was the fight for his life.


	52. The Meeting

**==Underground Temple, Saudi Arabia==**

The last time Raylan had been in the Underground Temple was during an Al Qaeda raid a few months back. During that time, he had very little time to actually appreciate the artwork and sculpture that the wyrms had created for their home. After thousands of years of being under attack and ruination, the place still seemed to hold its ground and its wall paintings still retained color. Everything was so delicate and beautiful.

However, Raylan could not be distracted. He still had a mission to complete which would also decide the fate of his teammates and the rest of the human race. If he wasn't able to find J in time, Exo would unleash nuclear hell on the planet. He was almost sure that Exo wasn't in the Underground Temple, so he had to take advantage of the moment.

Raylan snuck his way through a narrow corridor in which the walls were lined by torches. The area looked like it had been attacked several times, but it was still in its full functional capacity. Eventually, he was able to reach a stone door at the end of the corridor. Seeing as it had no doorknob or bar, he would have to knock it down. While he wasn't sure tha the had the energy to do so, he had no other choice. He took a few steps back and lunged himself at the door, destroying the barrier.

This next room was a large stairwell leading down. The stairs funneled down all the way until the end, where another stone door existed. Knowing that he couldn't waste time and energy running down the stairs, he instead leaped all the way from the top to the bottom. With all the power in him, he forcefully kicked the stone door down, opening the next room.

The room at the end of the door was colored a deep navy blue and was immersed in mist. Raylan knew that the mist was a sure sign of water, which must have meant that this room served a purpose. He kept walking through the room until he found a shallow pond. Feeling thirsty, he knelt to drink some until he was knocked off his feet by a painful hit.

"Don't drink that water!" he heard a familiar voice hiss.

"Show yourself!" Raylan cried out.

"It's me!" Exo's servant who destroyed half of Palisade stepped out from the shadows.

"You! I should split your head in half, right now." Raylan intimidated.

"Listen, I understand that we had a rough first meeting, but I'm here to help this time."

"What do you mean?"

"Exo treats me like dirt and only now do I understand that he means nothing but harm for everyone. His selfishness is slowly driving us away."

"Why should I trust you for what you've done in the past?" Raylan asked cautiously.

"I can't force you to trust me, but I ask that you give me a chance."

"Then why did you tackle me a minute ago?"

"I didn't want you to drink the water." the servant explained. "It's used as a coolant for the entire place and is filled with synthetic chemicals. Drinking it would surely result in death."

The servant walked over to the pool of water and tried holding some in his hand. He walked over to Raylan and showed him that it was very murky and had traces of sludge in it.

"Oh, well, thanks." Raylan scratched his head. "But I still don't fully trust you."

"I respect your decision."

"Why? Shouldn't you be trying to kill me right now?"

"No, I told you that I mean no harm."

"I guess I can kinda trust you, then." Raylan admitted. "After all, you're the only person I can trust at the moment."

"Good, we are at a mutual agreement." the servant said as he shook Raylan's hand. "What is your name, Dovahkiin?"

"My name is Raylan. What about yours?"

"They call me Nahkriin. It means 'vengeance'."

"Nice to meet you, Nahkriin...again." Raylan nodded. "So, let's get straight to business. What is Exo's plan."

"He plans to overload the nuclear reactors in former Soviet Russia to scare the U.S. into thinking that Cold War II had begun. By doing that, he will have both countries bombing the hell out of each other. Then, when the planet weakens, he slays the rest of the humans himself."

"Wow, that's actually a genius plan."

"And we have to stop him!" Nahkriin exclaimed. "He plans on killing some of the weaker wyrms - such as me - off so he can create a master race."

"Oh, that doesn't sound too good."

"It isn't."

"But you know what? I may be onto a plan."

"What kind of plan?" Nahkriin asked.

"Do you know where Call of Valor is?"

"As a matter of fact, I do."

"Excellent, lead the way."

* * *

Raylan followed Nahkriin through the depths of the Underground Temple for quite a few hours. Luckily, they didn't run into any sort of conflict with other wyrms and practically traveled undetected. Finally, Nahkriin led Raylan to an illuminated room filled with floating orbs. At the end of the room was an ancient door with the image of a dragon engraved on it.

"Through this door is the Dragon Chapel." Nahkriin said.

"How do I open it?" Raylan asked, looking around for some sort of doorknob. "I can't seem to find any way of entrance."

"To be honest, I don't know."

"Are you serious?"

"I really don't know how to open the door. Only the Dovahkiin knows how to do that." Nahkriin explained.

"Fuck."

"I remember Exo saying that there was a power that only the Dovahkiin possessed."

"Wait a minute...maybe I can shout my way through this door!" Raylan realized.

"What do you mean?"

"Stand back."

Raylan instructed Nahkriin to step away from him. Raylan backed away from the door and took a few deep breaths before finally opening his mouth wide.

"Fus ro dah!" Raylan roared, bursting the door open.

"You did it!" Nahkriin exclaimed.

"Now let's go in." Raylan walked towards the door.

"I'm not allowed to."

"What do you mean?"

"The power of the Dragon Chapel is too much for an ordinary being to comprehend. Only the Dovahkiin can enter without being completely obliterated by its life force."

"That makes no sense, but whatever." Raylan said as he walked through the door.

* * *

**==Dragon Chapel, Underground Temple, Saudi Arabia==**

When Raylan walked into the Dragon Chapel, the door recreated itself in its place, locking him inside. He marveled at the elegance of the room. It looked like the interior of any ordinary chapel, but with large statues and busts of dragons lining up the walls.

Raylan spotted the word wall for Call of Valor all the way in the back of the room. He slowly walked over to it and read each word carefully.

"Hero - Champion - Legend." Raylan translated. "Hun kaal zoor."

Raylan absorbed the power of the word wall and looked around the room. He looked up to the sky and opened his mouth wide.

"Hun kaal zoor!" he roared.

The chapel started to shake and Raylan tumbled to the ground out of a loss of balance. A sharp pain rang through his head and he clutched it while lying on the ground.

That's when he heard the voice.

"Dovahkiin..." a weak voice echoed.

"Who...who is that?" Raylan asked as he stood up.

"I am the one you have slain." the voice echoed again.

"J? Is that you?"

"You have guessed correctly." J said as he started to take the form as a hooded figure in front of Raylan. "What is it that you seek?"

"That was really anticlimactic..." Raylan mumbled. "Anyways, I have a few questions."

"Ask away."

"What was your plan to kill Exo?" Raylan asked. "I know you had one, and I need to know what it is."

"Wait, you don't know what the plan was?" J asked back.

"No, I don't know."

"My plan was you."

"Huh?"

"I created you to defeat Exo." J chuckled. "You were my creation with ultimately turned on me."

"I know that I turned on you. But what do you mean that I'm your plan?" Raylan asked.

"By that, I mean that you are the only other person strong enough to take him on in a fight."

"You mean I have to go head-to-head against him?"

"Precisely."

"And I thought your entrance was the only anticlimactic thing about this..." Raylan mumbled.

"But, there's a catch." J stated.

"And what may that be?"

"Exo is nearly invincible, meaning that you cannot defeat him by normal means."

"But didn't you just say that I had to take him head-to-head? You're not making much sense..."

"You _do _have to take him head-to-head, but you need special assistance."

"What kind of assistance?"

"Shout to the word wall." J pointed to the word wall for Call of Valor.

"What's that going to do?" Raylan asked.

"Just do it."

Raylan sighed and walked over to the word wall. He took a deep breath as he shouted "Hun kaal zoor" for the second time. He waited patiently for something to show up.

"There's nothing showing up." he said as he turned around to face J.

"I'm right here." a familiar female voice echoed.

"Isabelle? Is that you?" Raylan asked as he turned around to face her spirit.

"It's pronounced Isus. I liked Isabelle better, though." Isus stated.

"Wow, you haven't aged a bit."

"Yeah, I don't think death allows you to age..." Isus replied sarcastically. "I hear you needed some help."

"I do, but I'm not sure what kind of help I need."

"He needs that power." J poked in.

"Oh." Isus answered. "I think I can give that to you now."

"Can you really?" Raylan asked. "That would be pretty sweet.

"Yeah, but I need you to morph into Supremus." Isus instructed.

"Supremus...wait a minute! How the hell have I forgotten about that power?"

"Ten years tends to get to the brain." Isus chuckled.

"I can't believe I forgot I could do that. I was so mysterious and powerful like that." Raylan facepalmed.

"Do you remember how to call it out?" Isus asked.

"Yeah, but it's corny as hell." Raylan reminisced. "Is there another, less cornier way of summoning that power?"

"No, you're going to have to deal with the painful cliché of British English."

"Fuck." Raylan muttered. "Supremus, I summon thee!" he chanted.

When he relaxed, the gold and silver armor started to materialize around his body. As his transformation finally finished, he wiggled his fingers and moved his limbs to regain the feeling of being in the armor once again.

"This feels great!" Raylan exclaimed.

Isus smiled and created a glowing white orb of light in her hands. She chanted something under her breath and plunged it into Raylan's chest.

"What was that?" Raylan asked.

"Give it a minute to set in, it feels weird at the start." Isus explained.

"Ugh, I feel all dizzy." Raylan complained.

"You'll be fine."

"What did you just give me?"

"I gave you what you needed to defeat Exo."

"What is it?"

"It's just a really powerful strength potion."

"Wait...that's it?" Raylan asked. "A strength potion? So, you're saying that I could have just chugged a can of Monster and called it a day?"

"No, I'm not saying that, and there are two reasons why you can't just chug Monster. One: Energy drinks are terrible for you. Two: Only the strength potion can give you enough stable power to defeat Exo."

"So, that's it? You're not coming along with me to help me out or something?"

"Oh, we'll be coming with you. We can't really fight, though, since we're...ghosts."

"Yeah, I think I get that." Raylan scratched his head. "So, how do we get out of here?"

"We've got a spell, just follow our lead."


	53. Radioactive

_Wow, it's been a while since I updated this story, mainly because this chapter was nearly impossible to write._

_So the weirdest thing happened to me. In the middle of one of my classes, some blonde girl who looked strikingly familiar sat next to me. The first thing I thought of was this story and then I realized that she actually resembled the way I had imagined Sydney. But that wasn't the weirdest part. The weirdest part was that **her name was actually Sydney Evans**. I wanted to tell her my epiphany so badly, but I knew that would be kinda weird. Anyways, enough of my rants and onto the story!_

**==Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation==**

Ryleigh and Tyler started to come to their senses as an expanse of nothingness unfolded before their eyes. They both got up and let their visions sink in.

"What happened?" Ryleigh asked.

"We were blown up by a nuke, but we somehow survived." Tyler explained. "And we're still in our suits."

"Isn't this thing bad for us? Shouldn't we be getting cancer?"

"My suit scanner isn't saying that my body has any sort of illness." Tyler answered. "It's almost as if the radioactivity was unable to penetrate our Ranger suits."

"That's pretty cool." Ryleigh smiled.

"Do you know what's not cool?"

"What?"

"We let Exo get away." Tyler stated. "We were _this _close, but we let him get away."

"You know what else sucks?" Ryleigh asked.

"What?"

"We're in the middle of nowhere!" Ryleigh exclaimed. "And Gadget-X was still working on our suit GPS system."

"Shit, you're right." Tyler agreed.

Without having any time to think, both Rangers were instantly whizzed out of the scene through teleportation.

* * *

**==BN-350, Aktau, Kazakhstan==**

Gia and Jake held their ground as a powerful wind attempted to blow them off their feet. Gia lost her balance and was lifted off the ground, only to land herself on a cushiony Jake.

"Ow..." Jake whimpered.

"Sorry." Gia apologized and stood up.

They both regained their consciousness and stood to face Exo. After laying waste to the Moscow reactor, he had to track down two more Rangers in the Kazakhstan reactor.

"So we meet again." Exo greeted them. He slowly stepped towards them.

"Don't come any closer!" Gia threatened as she entered a defensive stance.

"What she said!" Jake concurred, entering the same defensive stance.

Exo held out his hand and then caused the ground in front of the teenagers to explode, sending them flying backwards. They slowly stumbled up as they tried to shake off the impact.

"I can defeat you both with my eyes closed." Exo stated. "Don't make me attempt that."

"Go, go, Megaforce!" Gia and Jake chanted as they morphed into their suits.

"Oh, Ranger suits, how intimidating!" Exo taunted. "A little spandex shouldn't be a problem for me."

The Dragon Priest pulled out a sword and slashed at Jake. The impact form the sword knocked him down and Gia had to step in between the two of them to prevent any more damage. The blade struck her as well and she was also knocked to the ground.

"Leave Gia alone!" Jake shouted as he got up and tackled Exo.

Exo rolled over to shove Jake off of his back. When he had the Ranger off, he tried stomping on him. Jake, however, was quick enough to move out of the way, causing Exo to stomp his foot onto the solid ground.

"Ow!" Exo exclaimed.

Jake rolled away from Exo and then attempted to spin-kick him, which unfortunately missed. Jake overestimated the impact of his kick and accidentally fell forwards. Gia shook her head and bolted over to Exo, knocking him down in a flashy American football style. When she finally got on top of him, she pinned him down and held her blaster to his head.

"Go ahead, kill me right now!" Exo challenged. "You can't do it."

As Gia was about to pull the trigger, Exo threw her off and stood over her. He let Gia try to get up before he struck her down again.

"I won't let you do that!" Jake shouted as he ran over to Exo. He tried another spin-kick but missed again and hit Gia on accident. His state of shock also caused him to fall on top of her. "Sorry, Gia!" he apologized.

Exo stepped back and watched both of the Rangers lay in pain on the ground.

"I think my job here is done." he said as he snapped his fingers in a white light. Suddenly, a countdown was initiated and Exo faded out of the reactor.

"Oh shit, what's going on!" Jake exclaimed when he got up.

"We're about to be roasted alive!" Gia replied.

"Well, that sucks." Jake admitted as they both watched the blinding flash consume the entire reactor.

* * *

**==Pripyat, Kiev Oblast, Ukraine==**

Jordan woke up in what appeared to be an old abandoned town. When his vision started to return, he could see that the buildings were falling into an extreme level of disrepair.

"Where am I?" he asked himself.

He got up and took another look around. Everything was written in some sort of foreign language, so it would be impossible for him to determine his actual location. When he turned a corner, he could see that there was another body starting to stir nearby.

"Who is that?" Jordan asked as he ran over to the mystery person.

Mike groaned as he put his head up. He was too tired to do anything, but he was woken up by the uncomfortable ground and the fact that Jordan was purposely trying to shake him awake.

"What's going on?" Mike asked when he slowly started to regain consciousness.

"I have no idea, but I don't like the look of this place." Jordan informed him. "Come on, we have to find a way out of here."

"Hold on a second..." Mike paused. "Didn't Raylan say that we had to go to certain places and do certain things?"

"I do remember him saying that." Jordan admitted. "Maybe he sent us here for some reason."

Jordan helped Mike up as they both started to wander around the abandoned city. Since none of them could read the apparent Cyrillic, they would have to find their way using context clues. Unfortunately, not being able to read the language resulted in almost no context clues.

"This is pointless." Jordan sighed. "We have no idea where the hell we are and we have no idea what the hell we're supposed to do!"

"Keep it cool, dude." Mike comforted him. "We have no choice but to find out where we are ourselves, so let's be optimistic. It's not like some voice is going to shout our location."

"Welcome to Pripyat, Ukraine!" a familiar voice exclaimed in the distance. "The site of the catastrophic Chernobyl disaster!"

* * *

**==Frozen hut in the Moldovan wilderness==**

The search was pointless and the cold air was starting to become unbearable. Chase decided to take a break and sit in a corner in order to warm himself up. Sydney, who hadn't felt like losing her head, still continued looking for clues to their whereabouts. If only Raylan had told them where they were headed, they'd be able to be more efficient.

"How are you not in pain, yet?" Chase asked as he rubbed his hands together to create warmth. "I'm dying from hypothermia over here."

"It's not that I'm not in pain, I'm just bearing through it so we can get the hell out of here." Sydney told him. "You should do the same if you want to make it out alive."

"Fine..." Chase groaned as he continued searching through the boxes.

Sydney tore through another crate until she gasped at a picture she saw. Unlike the others, this one had text that was written in completely legible English. She ran over to Chase and showed it to him.

"What is this?" he asked as he took a look at it.

"It's a picture of an illegally sold nuke. It was sold by to an American man by the owner of this hut, whose name is Viku Nicolae." Sydney explained to him. "But that's not the only thing that stands out. If you continue reading, you'll see that the name of the American man is Exo. Viku and Exo organized a scheme which would deliver the nukes directly to Exo, who is actually paying quite a lot for them."

"Wait...what would Exo want with an illegally owned nuke when he has the power to control thousands?" Chase asked. "And how do these humans know about Exo? And where is Exo getting all this money from? And how did Exo manage to disguise himself as an American man?"

"That's what I don't know. None of this makes sense for an ancient bad guy with unlimited magical power."

"Maybe his magic is a lot more limited than we think." Chase muttered. "Maybe there's a lot more to this guy that we don't know."

"This leaves one question." Sydney said. "Who actually _is _Exo?"

* * *

**==Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, Utena County, Lithuania==**

Emma Goodall found herself at what at first looked like a standard lawn of grass in front of what appeared to resemble an ordinary high school. As she regained vision, she could see that she could only read the top line of text on the building, which said 'Ignalina'.

Nick awoke not to long after Emma and noticed her staring at the building. He slowly walked beside her and looked at the building, as well.

"This place looks creepy." he admitted.

"Oh my gosh!" Emma shouted as he surprised her. "Oh, it's just you..."

"Sorry about that, but I'm getting the chills standing here. Where do you think we are?" Nick asked.

"The building says 'Ignalina'. I thought we were at some high school at first, but it doesn't really look like that."

Nick looked up at the sky. "The dark clouds and grey sky also act as a creepy backdrop." he noticed. "I _really _don't like this place."

"I think we should go inside." Emma suggested.

"Why? Who knows what lives in there!" Nick exclaimed.

"Well, the cold air is starting to get to me and I'm just not going to stand out here all day. I'd rather take a risk and go inside."

"I guess I have to go with you, then." he said as he followed her inside the building.

The interior looked like any other standard interior. The floor was tiled with numbers and the walls were a creamy white. As they started to make progress through the building, however, they noticed large tanks with numbers and identifiers tagged on them.

"I'm starting to think that this is some sort of factory." Nick realized.

"I feel like we're in a nuclear plant." Emma mumbled. "There are hazard signs everywhere."

"Well, we're completely screwed." Nick sighed.

"Just don't try to do anything sneaky and this whole place hopefully wont explode on us."

"Trust me, I don't think I'll be fooling around in this kind of place."

"So, what are we supposed to be doing here?" Emma asked as she continued to take a look around.

"Hopefully, Raylan isn't asking for us to fire any large ballistic missiles or anything like that." Nick said.

"This place doesn't look like an arms manufacturing reactor." Emma observed. "This just looks like a standard nuclear energy plant. I don't think we'll be firing any rockets from here. And you know, nuclear energy _is _the cleanest form of energy."

"Then what would Exo want with an energy plant?" Nick asked. "I can't see any way that the world could be taken over through this..."

"Maybe he has something up his sleeve that we don't know about. Remember, he's been rather sneaky in the past."

"Wait a minute!" Nick realized. "He doesn't want these power plants for the weapons, he wants these power plants for the nuclear power!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"He...he plans on interlocking these so that...he can detonate the _entire world_!"


End file.
